CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker
by Hollowfied Tweaker
Summary: A story in the CoA series, spearheaded by Slop Doggy. A group of fictionalized authors gathers together to fight off a great evil. See Any of the CoA member's profiles for more details.
1. Chapter 1: Yesterday

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer: Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_The following is the introduction chapter for my "Coalition of Authors" character, HT (Hollowfied Tweaker). The character is slightly based on myself with regards to a former career in Law Enforcement, the passing of my wonderful, loving wife and the emotional impact her death caused me. The other stuff of course, is pure fiction. Certain parts of this chapter were very difficult for me to write as I was partially re-living parts of my past. Please note that this intro is actually darker than I had originally envisioned, but will become less so as the story moves forward. I wanted to finish this intro in one chapter, but eventually decided on two, after which I will continue the regular storyline. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this intro chapter for my character. _

* * *

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

* * *

_**Chapter/Intro 1: Yesterday**_

_**"Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,  
There's a shadow hanging over me,  
Oh, yesterday came suddenly,  
Why she had to go,  
I don't know, she wouldn't say,  
I said something wrong, now I long  
For yesterday."**_**  
**_**- **__The Beatles__*****_

El Dorado County, California.

It's been raining nonstop now for the past week and soon, the cold weather will come and eventually blanket this region of Eastern California with snow. Lilinette has always loved the snow. She loved how beautiful the area looks immediately after the first snowfall. The white cotton-like formation of ice crystals covering the ground and trees which lay undisturbed, gave the area a tranquil feeling that always relaxed her, gave her comfort when she was troubled and soothed her soul. It was her favorite place in the world. She's always disliked the hustle and bustle of the "City by the Bay" and on many occasions, has shown a great deal of interest in moving to the Sierra Nevada.

HT loved Lilinette dearly and has always tried everything he can to make her happy, which was probably the main reason he decided to surprise her by purchasing a home on the shores of majestic Lake Tahoe. This large lakeside house was an anniversary gift for his beloved wife of five years. He remembers how happy, excited and overjoyed she was when he first brought her here and gave her the keys to their new home. She had so many plans, so many ideas, she wanted to make this house as beautiful as possible, with new furniture and decorations. The excitement and joy which filled her eyes made all the hardwork to acquire this place, well worth it. They were suppose to start a new life here, start a family. Now, their would-be castle sits all alone...empty and deserted.

Behind the house near the rocky shore, HT has been seated near one of the many boulders which lay scattered along the edge of the lake for what seems like an eternity. In front of him is the grave in which he buried his late wife. For hours, possibly even days, he hasn't stopped staring at both the picture and inscription written on the black marble tombstone which reads:

_**In Loving Memory  
Lilinette F.  
Died - August 18, 2008  
Beloved Wife and Best Friend  
You will always be Loved and Remembered  
**_**  
**As the rain continues to pour down relentlessly, HT looks out into the turbulent waters of the lake and remembers the time when the picture on the tombstone was taken. He took it two summers ago when they spent the whole day sailing on the lake. The lake's color was a beautiful deep blue at the time, not the melancholy gun-metal grey waters which currently pounds the shoreline. He remembers her so vivdly as if the photo was taken just yesterday. Her lovely light brown hair was flowing carelessly in the wind as her beautiful face glowed with elegance in the bright sunlight. He recalls at one point when she turned to him, gave him the most beautiful smile he's ever seen and said, "Thank you, Honey...I love you so much..."

Even the beads of rain which run down his face, can't conceal the intemperate feeling of sadness. He's angry at himself. He wanted answers, but couldn't find any. He doesn't understand why any of this had to happen, why the woman he loved more than life itself was taken away from him. Her death left him with a hollow heart filled with sorrow, lonliness, despair and regret. So much in fact that depression and thoughts of suicide have crept up from the deepest, darkest pits of his tortured soul. He blames himself soley responsible for her death and can't forgive himself for the selfishness that led to her passing. He lets his mind wander and thinks back to that dreadful day.

* * *

He recalls the argument they had in which he didn't want to shop at the department store that she had originally intended to go. After some time, due to her nature, she finally gave in and agreed to shop elsewhere. He remembers the sudden blinding light and defeaning explosion that erupted inside of the busy establishment which they entered. The terrified screams of people echoed in all directions. What the hell happened? He remembers getting up from the ground covered in dust and debris and drawing his sidearm. That's when he realized his wife was nowhere to be found. He begins searching frantically, but due to the ensuing chaos, finding her could take some time. He sweeps the entire north eastern side of the building, helping as many people as he can, but the search for Lilinette remains fruitless. He decides to search near the center of the store where the explosion originated. He didn't know what to expect, but he knew that she wasn't caught up in the blast because they were together at the time. Hastily moving toward the middle of the store, he encounters a small group of men wearing strange clothes and armor, equipped with unknown types of weapons. During his time in the U.S. Army with the Operational Detachment-Delta, aka Delta Force, he has seen nearly every weapon imaginable that this world has produced, yet he has never encountered hardware which these unidentified individuals carry. He quickly takes cover behind the nearest large object to his right to get an assessment of the situation. From what he gathers, there seems to be a total of four fully-armed men and a single female hostage. Each of them seems to be over 7 feet tall and weigh approximately 300+ pounds. Just who are these people...terrorists, militia? What the hell do they want? What's this about?

As the smoke and dust dissipate, he finally gets a clear view of the hostage, it's...Lilinette. She's become a captive in the grip of the terrorists. His heart races as the nerves in his entire body suddenly explode like a million needles trying to break out. He pauses for an instant as his mind races, unsure of what he should do next. For all the training he has endured, for all the tactics he has learned, in this single moment, he feels helpless. In the past, he was involved in many situations like this. He has always remained level-headed, cool, composed, able to get through each situation with no lives lost. This time however, things were different. Before, he didn't personally know the hostages he was trying to save and that's what gave him the edge, time and again. Now that it's his wife who's life is at stake, he panics and loses that edge. Nearly a minute has passed when finally, he decides to act. There's only four of them and his Glock 17 holds seventeen rounds in the magazine with one in the chamber. He believes nobody in the group is aware of his presence yet, giving him the advantage. As he press checks his gun, Lilinette notices him kneeling behind a large shelf of items and realizes what he is about to attempt. In that moment, their eyes meet and she looks at him as if trying to say 'No, don't do it'. He looks at her with great concern then decides to take the initiative. With great haste, he stands, bringing his firearm up to eye level and quickly acquires his first target. He aligns the sights, carefully aiming for center mass and places his finger on the trigger. A sudden bright blue flash momentarily stops HT in his tracks.

"What the hell?"

A brilliant, blue beam of light shoots out from Lilinette's hands, vaporizing the man in front of her which causes the remaining men in the group to bring their weapons to bear. Due to what he had just witnessed, HT is briefly taken aback and hesitates. He yells out, unintentionally giving away his position.

"LILINETTE!"

One of the men in the group is made aware of HT's presence and quickly turns and fires his strange weapon, discharging a greenish laser surrounded by sparks of electrical current. Time seems to slow down for HT as he watches the deadly light travel towards him, giving him enough time to say, "Oh, shit!".

"NOOO!" Lilinette screams.

With blinding speed, she moves from her present location and into the path of the oncoming attack. She is struck directly in the back causing her to be thrown forward and into the arms of HT. They both fall to the ground with a thud. Lilinette rolls over and shoots another beam of light at the group, but misses her target, hitting the far wall behind them instead. The leader quickly retaliates, shooting her twice in the midsection. HT becomes frantic and quickly moves to her location. He takes her, placing one hand under the back of her head and his other arm behind her shoulders.

"No, no, no, no,...sweatheart...why did you...?"

"It's alright darling...it doesn't hurt...really..."

"Don't talk, I'm gonna get you some help..."

"It's...too late...for me...save...yourself..."

"No! I'm not leaving you here! I'm gonna..."

"I...love...y..."

"Lilinette?...Honey? Please don't leave me...please don't...go..."

She closes her eyes. He can feel her slow beating heart suddenly stop as her arms fall limp to the ground. He holds her tightly in his arms and kisses her on the lips, but receives no response. He looks up and screams out in anguish.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Suddenly, in one fluid motion, he grabs his firearm from the floor and fires six continuous shots, hitting each assailant twice in the head. To his horror however, his assault is ineffective due to some type of energy shield which the men activates a split second before he open fired. He open fires again until the magazine empties and the slide locks back, but the bullets ricochet off the reddish wall of energy. In response, the leader runs toward HT with speed that seems too impossible for a man of his size and weight. He grabs HT by the throat, taking him off of his feet and slamming him hard into the wall.

"So, this woman, she is yours, huh? Then you must know the secrets. Tell me now, you insignificant worm! Or I'll crush your scrawny little neck!"

"YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME? I'M GONNA KILL ALL OF YOU!"

"HA! Don't make me laugh, maggot. You're as much of a threat to me as a blind newborn baby. NOW TELL ME THE SECRETS OF AUTHORIAN! WHERE'S THE BOOK?"

"Go fuck yourself!" HT yells, spitting then striking him in the face with a straight punch.

"Heh, nice love tap, I think you actually made me blink. Now it's my turn."

HT feels a sudden blow to his midsection accompanied by an intense sharp pain. He could hear the nauseating sound of ribs breaking and shattering as he vomits out large amounts of blood. He drops to the ground in excrutiating pain, holding his abdomen. He slowly glances up and yells out while more blood spews from his mouth.

"Fuck...y..you...go to...hell!"

"You first, runt."

The extremely large, burly man raises his leg and stomps HT's skull. Darkness and silence overtakes his senses as he passes out from the enormous impact.

He remembers waking up in a hospital bed at ICU, which he would remain as a temporary resident for the next few weeks. The recovery process was slow and painful, but eventually he recovers from his injuries. Shortly after leaving the hospital, he made plans to bury his wife behind their property beside the lake. He returns to work, but is never the same, going so far as leaving his Department's SWAT team, something he was a member of for five years as an Element Leader. A short time later, through unknown means, he acquires the video footage of the attack and repetitiously views the incident over and over. He counts four...four seconds that slipped through his fingers and changed his life forever. Four seconds is the time in which he hesitated to engage the unidentified men. Those four seconds caused the death of his wife. Maybe things would have turned out differently if he didn't pause. Maybe Lilinette would still be alive today if he didn't make such a grave mistake. Maybe...

His obsessive and eccentric behavior is only compounded by the ever increasing, intense feeling of guilt and self hatred. Due to Departmental policies and standard procedure regarding Law Enforement Officers being involved in any type of shooting, he is instructed to visit a psychiatrist and possibly a grief counselor. Neither of those did anything useful to remedy the collapse of his mental stability as he falls deeper into depression. Shortly thereafter, he resigns from the Sheriff's Department, even after his superiors, co-workers, family and friends attempt to dissuade him from making such a brash decision. Ultimately, he isolates himself from the rest of the world inside his Lake Tahoe estate.

* * *

A sudden flash of lighting and extreme clap of thunder brings HT's thoughts back to the present. Strangely, the rain has ceased and in its place, an intense snowstorm, causing most of the ground to turn white. He finds it somewhat unusual to have a thunderstorm in the middle of a snowstorm during winter, but not at all impossible. He looks down and picks up a handful of snow which has accumulated next to him. It's ice cold and causes his hand to go numb. 'She used to love this weather, particularly the snow,' he thinks to himself as he drops the clump of frozen water.

"Look sweetheart, it's snowing...I never really noticed it until now, but you're right...it really is beautiful. I wish you could be here with me right now so we can enjoy it together..."

HT can no longer find the strength to hold back his tears and for the first time in his adult life, he breaks down crying. The feeling in his heart becomes heavy and too unbearable to handle. At that point, he makes his decision and moves to the foot of her grave. From beneath his jacket, he pulls out a handgun, the same Glock 17 he had when his wife was killed. He ejects the magazine from the handgrip and removes a single hollow-point bullet. He racks the slide back, locks it place then places the bullet which he removed from the magazine, into the chamber. He depresses the slide release causing the slide to move forward with a loud clack. Slowly, he raises the gun toward his head and places the muzzle underneath his chin. He can feel the cold barrel pressing up into his throat as he puts his index finger on the trigger.

"...Wait for me Nette...I'm coming..."

Another flash of lightning followed by the sound of thunder causes him to pause for a moment. Suddenly, a bright yellowish light appears just beyond Lilinette's tombstone. He tilts his head down slightly and squints his eyes, trying to identify its source. He can barely make out the silhouette of a person, but suddenly, the light begins moving forward until the figure of a woman becomes visible.

"Who's out there? What do you want?"

He receives no answer.

"I SAID WHO'S OUT THERE?"

Just as suddenly as the light had appeared, it quickly vanishes and in its place, stands a beautiful, partially naked woman with blond hair who seems unaffected by the cold. It takes several seconds for his eyes to focus properly due to the sudden change in illumination, but what he sees, makes his heart stop.

"Who are you? You look almost like..."

"Lilinette?"

"Ye...yes..."

"Unbelievable as it seems...I'm her sister."

"What?"

"It's true."

"But...she never told me she had a...sister. Hell, I didn't even know she had any family."

"Well, on this world she didn't."

"...wha?...What do you mean 'on this world'? What _**world**_ are _**you**_ from?"

"Lauterania."

"Law-to-what? Are you insane or something?"

"I was fully aware of your possible reaction, which is why I'm going to show you instead."

"Show me what?"

The woman doesn't answer, instead she closes her eyes and begins to wave her right hand in a figure eight motion. She stops then positions it in a way that looks as though she's pressing the palm of her hand against an invisible wall. The air in front of her begins to sizzle and crackle then a small rip starts to form in the air directly in front of her outstretched hand. Through astonished eyes, HT watches as the small rip tears, becoming larger and wider, finally changing into a large hole hovering slightly above the snow-covered ground. His face changes to a look of bewilderment as he stares at this...thing which the woman has created.

"What the hell...is that? It looks kinda like a..."

"It's a rift in space/time. A doorway, if you will."

"A doorway? To what?"

"To a different world in a different universe. Far from your own...my world, as well as your wife's."

"Huh?"

HT slowly walks around it, noticing that it's only visible from the front and back, but nearly invisible from the side, just a sliver of light. He cautiously walks closer and tries to touch it, finding it strangely warm and inviting.

"Don't worry, it will not harm you."

"And I'm suppose to believe some strange person I just met. I might be crazy, but I ain't stupid. Hell, I don't even know your name and you want me to trust you...just like that?"

"My name is Bethany and yes, I want you to trust me...just like that. Come with me, let me show you who Lilinette truly was."

After taking a few moments to decide, he stares at his wife's tombstone then concedes, thinking his life can't get any worse than it is now.

"What the hell, fuck it...show me."

"Thank you. Here, take my hand."

The moment he touches her skin, all the memories of his wife come flooding back. The touch of her warm soft hand feels almost like...Lilinette's.

"Hold on to me tightly."

"Sure thing."

"I don't want to lose you during transit."

"...wait! WHAT?..."

In mere moments, they disappear into the rift. The dimensional "doorway" immediately closes and vanishes, leaving no hint that it was ever there at all. The snow continues to fall, covering Lilinette's tombstone and grave in a blanket of white, cotton-like ice crystals. Lilinette truly loved the snow.

* * *

_**"Cause I am hanging on every word you say and,  
Even if you don't want to speak tonight, that's alright,  
Alright with me,  
Cause I want nothing more than,  
To sit outside Heaven's door,  
And listen to you breathing,  
Is where I want to be."**_**  
**_**- **__Lifehouse__******_

**End of Chapter/Intro 1**

* _This quote is taken from the song, "__**Yesterday"**__ by __The Beatles_

** _This quote is taken from the song, "__**Breathing"**__ by __Lifehouse_


	2. Chapter 2: Back From the Brink

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_Here's the second and final part of the introduction story. I hope you enjoy it._

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**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

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_**Chapter/Intro 2: Back from the Brink**_

_**"I'm finding my way back to sanity, again,  
Though I don't really know what I'm gonna do,  
When I get there,  
Take a breath and hold on tight,  
Spin around one more time,  
And gracefully fall back to the arms of grace"  
- **__Lifehouse__*****_

'Where the hell are we?' HT thinks to himself, 'It's strange but at the same time, quite soothing. It almost feels like I'm walking on the top of clouds...and this air, it's so pure. My lungs feel...rejuvinated.'

"We are inbetween worlds, a path to another universe and dimension."

"...how did you know what I was thinking?"

"It's one of my abilities."

"Anything else you want to tell me?"

"Not at the moment...no. We're almost there."

Stepping through what seems to be something like scattered ice particles mixed with a tinge of light smoke, the two travelers emerge from the rift and arrive at their destination. HT is immediately awestruck at the sight before him. A colossal city with buildings that seem to be made entirely out of glass, crystals and ice, stretches from one horizon to the other. In the center of this titanic city, sits an enormous glistening palace made up entirely of diamonds and ice. So huge in fact, it seems to cover several square miles. The strangest thing about this world is the soft-looking snow which blankets the entire region. Although the sun hangs directly overhead and the temperature is warm enough to make ice dissolve, it seems as though the snow has recently fallen and refuses to melt. It's like a winter wonderland, in every sense.

"This place...it's beautiful."

"We are on the snow planet, Lauterania and this city is its capital, Laurentia, my home."

"So you're telling me that my wife was originally from here?"

"Yes."

"...it explains alot. Everytime she was depressed, she would ask me to take her to the mountains...to the snow, where she would always feel better. It was almost as if she belonged there, like she was...home. Now, I understand why."

"I'm happy to hear that."

"What do you mean?"

"After leaving us, I always assumed that she had forgoten about this world, about her family. Now I know that isn't true. She really missed this place...and us."

"So why didn't she ever try to come back?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"..."

"It's because of you. To be away from her home for so long...she must have loved you a great deal."

"...I..."

"What makes me more happy is the fact that she was finally able to find someone she could love as well as love her in return."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's complicated, but I'll try to explain a little of it. The palace standing in the center of Laurentia is where we live. If you haven't guessed yet, we are of royal blood. Due to that bloodline, our consorts are chosen for us. She despised that idea and became rebellious against our father."

"So she decided to leave and happened to end up in my world."

"Yes and no."

"Huh?"

"Yes, because of being forced to marry someone she didn't love, she decided to leave, but she had already determined her destination...Your reality."

"What's so special about... my reality?"

"It's also due in large part to you."

"What? I don't get it! Sorry, but now you're just confusing me. There's billions of people on my planet, how did she just narrow it down to me?"

"She enjoyed your story."

"My what? What the hell are you talking about?"

"This maybe too difficult to explain or for you to comprehend."

"Try anyways, dammit. I'm already confused as it is. Explain it to me."

"Well, as you know by now, there's more than one universe. In fact, there are an infinite number of universes, called the multiverse."

"O.K., I guess I understand that so far."

"I assume your world has millions of different stories or tales designed to interest, amuse or entertain."

"Yeah."

"Well, every story, myth or legend that has ever been written, spoken or told through different media, are in fact a reality in a different part of the multiverse. From what was explained to me centuries ago..."

"Centuries ago?..."

"...the authors of such work, like a fictional novel for example, somehow tapped into the actual world of that story without ever realizing it. They believe their stories came from their own thoughts, their own ideas, when in fact they were subconsciously viewing the lives of others who live in a different reality. Dreams are similar to that, although at times the person would view several different dimensions simultaneously, sometimes causing nightmares."

"So what you're trying to tell me is that my life is..."

"A novel in this world. An adventure novel called..."

"This is just too much to take in!"

"That's how my sister found you. She fell in love with your character from that novel. To be honest, I read the book as well and I concur with her feelings. You were heroic, brave and valiant, risking your own life to save the lives of people you do not even know."

"That just sounds too ridiculous to be believable."

"I would react the same way if I was in your place."

"How...how can any of this be true? How are both of you able to travel to these different dimensions and worlds like that?"

"By the means of an ancient art called Authorian."

"Authorian?"

"Yes. Mastery in this art allows the user to travel to any dimension, world or universe which he or she wishes to go. They also become a type of empath, being able to mimic or copy any special abilities, skills, techniques or powers from individuals residing in those worlds to some degree, depending on how well versed the Authorian practitioner has become."

"So that power I saw her use...the day she died...the blue light that shot out of her hands..."

"Yes, she acquired that power during one of her travels."

"Does everyone on your planet use this Authorian thingy?"

"No. Almost the entire population has no knowledge of its existence. Only those of the royal bloodline are introduced to it. From those people, only a handful are able to truly master it. Those that fail or can not focus properly, are lost forever during transit...inbetween dimensions. History shows that we have lost many."

"Why would you tell me any of this anyways? I'm not even from your planet, just some stranger. Why bring me here?"

"I want to teach you Authorian."

"Me? Why? I'm not a part of your royal family!"

"Technically you are, when you married my sister."

"There must be billions of people on this planet or somewhere out in that multiverse whatchamacalit thing, who you could teach."

"I have already trained two individuals. If you accept, you will be my third student."

"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you willing to train me?"

"You were going to kill yourself, I'm giving you another option...an opportunity to change your life. The other reason is because of Lilinette. She reached out to me through the vastness of the multiverse and one of her dying wishes was for me to bring you here and teach you the art. Her voice faded before I could...could..."

Unabated tears begin to fall from Bethany's eyes as she drops to the snowy ground on her knees while hiding her face with both hands. The death of her sister has finally taken its toll and she is unable to hold back her sorrow any longer. Slowly, HT kneels down next to her and gently takes her hand. He puts his other arm around her and takes out a picture from his jacket pocket, placing it in her hand. He says in a soft voice, "Here, I'm sure she would have wanted you to have this. It's the same picture as the one on her tombstone. I took it two years ago on the lake." In a low, trembling voice Bethany says, "Thank you." and embraces him.

"Bethany...train me."

"Excuse me?"

"I want you to teach me Authorian. I want to do it for her, if that was really her last wish. When can we start?"

* * *

Nearly eight months has passed since HT began his training. Though strict and tactful, Bethany was also a very caring teacher. The first rift he created, she was there guiding him hand in hand, making sure he wouldn't get lost between realities. She would continue to do so until she was certain he was ready to explore the multiverse on his own. Unbenownst to HT however, she was always nearby, following his aura to the different worlds he visited. HT was different than her other students who quickly mastered Authorian in a shorter amount of time. He was the hardest to teach. Maybe he lacked the required talent or just maybe, he refused to learn quickly because he didn't want to leave...her. More times than not, he felt that Bethany is the closest thing he has to his wife, but he would quickly push those thoughts away, not wanting to cross that line. For he still loves Lilinette with all his heart and hasn't stopped thinking of her since.

"Although it took some time, I think you have finally mastered Authorian."

"Uh, yeah. It kinda did take me awhile...sorry."

"Don't apologize, I've really enjoyed your company these past few months. I'm going to miss you, HT."

"...me too. Of course I can visit anytime, right."

"Of course, you are always welcome here."

"You should also come visit me sometime. You know where I live."

"Yes, of course I will. Anyways, I'll be away for some time. I've got some business that needs to be attended to."

"Yeah? Where to and how long?"

"To discuss an important matter with a **friend**. I'm not certain how long it'll take, however."

"Well, be careful."

"Don't worry, I always am."

"Take care of yourself and don't be a stranger."

"Thank you. I'll see you again, goodbye HT."

"Bye."

To his surprise, Bethany suddenly kisses him on the cheek then walks to the middle of the room. She quickly creates a portal to her destination and HT watches as she enters the rift and disappears. In a flash, the doorway vanishes with a crackle and just like that, he's left all alone in the unusually large room where they've been training. A small feeling of lonliness creeps up from the bottom of his gut, but he tries to ignore it. So many thoughts begin running through his head as he stares out of the ridiculously large window of the palace, gazing toward the sunset in the horizon.

'Now what? I can freakin go anywhere I want, visit any world I choose, but right now, I have no clue what I want to do.'

He looks down, shaking his head at the thought of having these near omnipotent abilities and not knowing what to do with it. Well, maybe not "near omnipotent", but pretty damn close.

'It's almost like having cable TV. There's hundreds of channels, but absolutely nothing to watch...wait, TV...that's it. I've always liked that movie.'

Finally deciding on where to go, he moves to the middle of the room and readies himself in a type of horse stance. He starts to focus as his mind pictures the world which he wants to travel to. Small beads of sweat begin to roll down the side of his face as he concentrates, trying to locate the seam in which to literally rip open the fabric of time and space. Slowly, he draws his right arm back and brings his left down lower. In a single motion, he slices the air with both hands, crossing his arms then pushing forward. The tear abruptly opens, getting larger and wider with each passing second, soon becoming large enough for him to enter.

"Equilibrium...," he says before entering the rift.

* * *

Libria.

Arriving unnoticed, HT activates an optical camoflauge, acquired during one of his travels, rendering him practically invisible. In this dystopian world where human emotions and any emotionally stimulating materials are banned, his strange clothing and mannerism might label him as a "sense-offender" which is punishable by death. Being in this world just seems so surreal, everything from the people and white vehicles to the buildings, are an exacting detail of those portrayed in the movie. Enormous video monitors are mounted on nearly every building, showing the face of "Father" as he addresses the citizens of this metropolis. Passing by one of the tallest skyscapers in Libria, he stops to read the name inscribed above the main entrance of the building, "Equilibrium". This is one of the centers where the emotion-suppressing drug called _Prozium_ is distributed.

"Prozium...that stuff could prove useful in the middle of battle or firefight," HT says in a light whisper, "It would probably be a good idea if I get my hands on some."

He proceeds to a massive circular building which is the headquarters of the Tetragrammaton Counsel. Entering the location undetected, he locates the training facility of the Grammaton Clerics and situates himself in the upper level, observing the training activites of a large group of Cleric recruits down below. He sees Vice-Counsel DuPont giving a verbal lecture to the group as some are practicing "Gun Katas" while others are simply taking notes.

"The Gun Katas...Through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, the Cleric has determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun battle is a statistically predictable element. The Gun Kata treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of opponents while keeping the defender clear from the statistically traditional trajectories of return fire."

Looking across the arena, HT sees the highest ranking Cleric, John Preston observing the people below as well. HT decides to follow him, realizing he can use Authorian to mimic the skills of the most deadly Cleric in this world. Walking around the room, DuPont continues, "By the rote mastery of this art, your firing efficiency will rise by no less than 120%. The difference of a 63% increase to lethal proficiency makes the master of the gun katas an adversary not to be taken lightly."

HT follows the Cleric as he steps outside the building. Preston stops to look at his surroundings momentarily, giving HT the opportunity to copy his highly lethal skills of Gun Kata. Total focus and concentration is needed to acquire the abilities of others, if not, only a fraction of it will be obtained. Preston is abruptly startled as the feeling of 'someone watching over his shoulder' arises from the depths of his inner being, causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. Dual pistols suddenly ejects from both sleeves of his coat, falling straight into the grip of his hands as he quickly turns around. To his surprise however, there is no one in the immediate vicinity. "I must be imagining things," he says aloud before turning around to continue walking toward his white vehicle. With a smirk, HT walks away and proceeds toward the TetraGrammaton armory to obtain a pair of highly modified Berreta 92Fs, which are issued to all Clerics.

Entering the facility, he quickly locates the cache of weapons and procures two pre-issued Cleric pistols from the armory.

"Damn, these things are nice," he says in a low whisper, "Although, it could definitely use more modifications and upgrades, like unlimited ammo. Hmph, where can I go for upgrades...that's right, Forge."

With that notion stuck in his head, he quickly creates another rift and leaves Equilibrium in order to request the help of another character in a different dimension.

* * *

El Dorado County, California.

Although HT has been gone for several months, he returns home nearly the exact same time he left with Bethany, possibly several hours later. He looks around the area, noticing that the snowstorm delivered about three feet of snow. Everything was covered and unidentifiable, from the trees surrounding the property to his '69 Camaro parked in the driveway. He walks over to Lilinette's grave and brushes off the accumulated snow on top of her tombstone. He places his hand over her picture and says out loud, "I love you, sweetheart." He then walks towards the rear entrance of the house. Before entering, a rift suddenly appears behind him. To his surprise, Bethany emerges from it with a look of seriousness expressed on her lovely face. He invites her inside, pulling out a chair for her, which seems to be the only furniture in the entire home.

"Bethany, what's wrong?"

"I've gathered some information about the men that attacked you and Lilinette."

"What? Well, who the hell are they?"

"Mercenaries lead by a man named Dasan Teki. They serve a man named... Kuroouja."

"Dasan Teki? Mercenaries? Kuroouja? What did they want? Why the hell did they attack us?"

"They were looking for the secrets of Authorian."

HT thinks back to the time of the attack and remembers one of the mercenaries forcefully inquiring about Authorian. It didn't register in his head until now. So that's what this was all about, that's why they killed her.

"Bethany, one of them mentioned something about a book."

"The Authorian Chronicles?"

"I don't know...that's all I remember."

Bethany remains silent for several seconds, her face stricken with the look of concern as her brow furrows.

"How did they find out about the Chronicles? I...didn't want to get involved with the situation, but as things stand at the moment, I have no choice."

"What situation? What're you talking about?"

"Kuroouja wants to master Authorian, but not only that, he wants to conquer the entire multiverse as well."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes, it's quite possible. He has the resources to accomplish such a feat, especially if he acquires the Chronicles."

"How were they able to find Lilinette? Hell, how were they even able to find my world? Are they also users of Authorian?"

"No, there are only a handful of people in the entire multiverse knowledged in the art of Authorian. Many thousands, if not millions, serve Kuroouja. A few such individuals are celestial scale teleporters, who are able to teleport anyone to anywhere in the multiverse. He also has many Generals, each leading an army of powerful creatures and supernatural beings with different special abilities."

"Those odds seem overwhelming..."

"I can't ask you to get caught up in this."

"Don't get me wrong, my main goal is to kill Dasan Teki and his horde for what they did. But I also want to help you because of what you did for me. Don't involve yourself, Bethany. Stay and protect Lauterania. Let me take your place instead, I promise not to let you down."

"My sister trusted you...as do I. If you are really willing to help, find a man named Slop Doggy, he's your best chance in finding this mercenary who killed my sister."

"Slop Doggy? That's his name? Who is he anyways?"

"My former student who has already been involved in this matter for some time now. I trust him greatly.

"...O.K., if you say so."

"By the way, you need not worry about Lauterania, she is...protected. Only those that my family and I choose, are able to enter our world. Even other Authorian users who are not welcome, can not gain access. If they try, they'll be lost in Limbo for all eternity."

"That's good to know."

"I would like to give you something before you depart."

Bethany brings both of her hands together, leaving just a small space between the two. A small light appears in the center, growing in size until her hands are no longer visible. As she spreads her arms outward, the light follows her hands and stretches, forming a horizontal line. The light unexpectedly transforms into a japanese short sword. To say that HT is amazed at the sight he's just witnessed, is an understatement.

"A Wakizashi? How did you...eh, forget it."

"I obtained this sword during one of my journeys. It is quite special and powerful. Use it only as a last resort, if all else fails. Its energy is limited."

HT stares at the sword in wonder while taking it from her hand, thinking that it looks like an ordinary sword.

"Thank you, but is there a special way of using it?"

"To each...his own."

"Huh?"

"You'll find out when the time comes."

"Uh, yeah...thanks."

"I expect you to return the sword when..."

"Don't worry, Bethany, I'll come back."

He nods his head slightly, giving her a smile of confidence. Though slightly concerned, she smiles back and embraces him."

"Farewell, HT. If you ever need me, just call out. I'll be able to hear you."

"Thanks. Goodbye Bethany."

As Bethany disappears through the portal, HT yells out, "Wait! How do I find this Doggy dude person?...Damn, now what should I do?" The sword given to him suddenly glows with a greenish colored light then a picture of a dark, danerous world flashes in his mind. He quickly backs up as though stunned.

"What the hell was that? This sword...did it just tell me where to go? Well, only one way to find out. But first..."

HT walks upstairs to his bedroom and pulls out a locked chest from the closet and opens it. The box contains his SWAT gear from the Sheriff's Department. He examines the contents within and chooses specific equipment to take with him. He dons his level 4 "_Dragon Skin_" body armor which is capable of stopping the most powerful, high velocity rifle rounds as well as protecting him from fragmentation grenades. He puts on his tactical belt with attached thigh-strapped holsters, slash-resistant kevlar flight gloves, combat boots and finally, his kevlar laced leather jacket. He places both Cleric pistols into each holster then attaches the sword to the back of his belt. He then walks back outside to Lilinette's grave and places his wedding ring on top of her tombstone. For several minutes, he gazes at the inscription before finally kissing her picture.

"Goodbye Honey. I'll be back...just save me a place in Heaven."

He pauses momentarily, taking a deep breath then begins opening a rift to the dimension shown to him.

"Well, here we go."

* * *

The world he enters is exactly what he had imagined. The atmosphere is dangerously dark and uninviting, adding to that, the cold weather and high winds which makes the place feel even more inhospitable. Bleak jagged-edged mountains surrounds the area with strange looking trees scattered about the ridgeline. The small town which seems to sit on the edge of darkness, looks dead and deserted with old wooden buildings that have partially collapsed. He has never seen such a place before, except in horror movies, so lifeless which reeks of death and decay.

"What the hell happened here? Where is everyone?"

The sudden noise of falling debris causes him to quickly draw his pistol, aiming directly toward the origin of the sound. He presses a small button on the side of his firearm, causing a small HUD_(heads up display)_ to pop open. Looking through the sight, he says, "Starlight". The modified scope suddenly changes colors from a light tint to green, enabling him to see clearly in the darkness. He scans the area looking for any signs of life, friendly or not, but doesn't find any. He says, "Thermals." which causes the scope to once again change color, from green to light red, designed to find any type of heat source. He continues scanning, but from the looks of it, there's nothing out there. The old rotting buildings falling apart and dropping due to the strong winds, are the only movements he can detect. Pressing the small button again, the scope retracts back into the top of the slide as he re-holsters his weapon.

"Damn, this place gives me the creeps. Where the hell is this Sloppy guy Bethany wants me to find? I might be here forever..."

Suddenly, he hears loud gurgling sounds surrounding him, changing to high shrieks moments later. Several shadows spotted in all directions begin to move and rise up from the stone covered ground, forming shapeless creatures with ghastly eyes and horrific, salivating jaws. They start encircling him, moving as if they were made up of some type of dark, gooey, liquid-type substance. He slowly takes out a strange contraption, something he obtained from Equilibrium and places it in an area below his right jaw. Pulling the trigger, it quickly injects the emotion-suppressing drug into his neck. The effects are almost instantaneous. HT glances to his left then right, trying to count the number of these...creatures and their location. Without hesitation, he swiftly draws both pistols and begins firing in all directions while keeping his focus fixated on the ground in front of him. His movements are strange, but smooth and rapid, moving only his arms to engage each hostile. He shoots behind his back, over his head, crossing his arms, horizontally and other unusual contortions. Each explosive-tip round which hits their target's center mass, effectively causes them to disappear in a black puff of smoke and dust. HT ceases the torrent of gunfire and lowers his weapons. He looks around for more hostiles, but the area has gone quiet with none of those strange creatures remaining. If it weren't for the Prozium he injected, he would actually be expressing a feeling of relief, but his facial features remain emotionless.

"Now, I can continue searching for Slop Doggy."

At that moment, the small hill directly in front of him begins to move and rise, just like the shadows did beforehand. Another creature forms, but this one is many times larger that the others he dispatched moments ago, standing at least four stories in height. He should be overcome with fear, but the Prozium has supressed that emotion as well. He quickly aims both pistols at the monstrous creature, firing a volley of high velocity rounds which explode on impact. The results however, aren't as effective on this creature, only causing small areas of its body to disappear. It shrieks and roars in anger, causing the remaining glass windows from the surrounding buildings to shatter. HT stands his ground, refusing to retreat while continuosly firing upon the creature with an unrelenting barrage of bullets, which only seem to slow its movement and make it even angrier.

"This...thing must have a weak spot somewhere, but I'm shooting at everything in sight...nothing seems to be working."

A large rumble of thunder causes HT to immediately look up. 'There doesn't seem to be any thunder clouds in the sky,' he thinks to himself, 'There aren't any clouds at all, just the two moons and stars.' He looks back at the creature as it's suddenly bombarded by lightning bolts, one after another. It shrieks in pain as it literally explodes in a giant plume of black smoke, dissipating before ever reaching the ground. HT quickly turns around, pointing both muzzles high into the air. He spots a person dressed in a long, black cloak hovering at least fifty feet above the ground. HT places his fingers on both triggers, preparing to engage this new threat.

"If the Servants were attcking you, that means we're on the same side. You can lower your guns."

"Naw, I'll just keep them locked on you if you don't mind. At least until I determine who you are."

The stranger floats down, landing gently on the ground while sheathing the large clever-like sword behind his back. HT keeps his sights on him as he moves, one at his heart, the other between both eyes.

"My name is Slop Doggy. I didn't come here to fight you."

HT lowers one pistol, keeping the other pointed at Slop Doggy's chest. His cold, piercing stare only confirms that the drug he took, still hasn't worn off.

"How do I know if you're really him?"

"I spoke to Bethany a few days ago. She told me about you...HT, right? Your wife was killed by some mecenaries."

"Yeah, that's right." HT responds while re-holstering both guns, "Thanks for the assist, that creature was a tough bastard."

"They're the Servants of Kuroouja. I watched you fight off the first group and I have to admit, you're quite impressive. A normal person wouldn't last five seconds against them, but you managed to wipe out a small horde in the same amount of time."

"I had problems with the big one though. If you didn't kill it, I'd probably be six feet under about now. Your powers are very impressive."

"Thanks."

"Look, I need your help..."

"In finding the mercenary who killed your wife."

"...Yeah, Bethany told me that..."

"I'm the best chance you have in finding this man."

"Dammit, can you stop finishing my sentences for me. I find it kinda creepy. Bethany would do the same thing, sometimes."

"Sorry, just a habit. Anyways, I'd like to know if you'd be willing to join my group."

"Like a tactical unit?"

"Uh...yeah, something like that. Although, I'd like to call it a Coalition."

"Hey, whatever floats your boat, Slop."

"There's only a few of us at the moment, but I'm expecting more to join soon."

"Well, what kind of..."

In the distance, the sound of high-pitched chirping can be heard, increasing in volume and pitch. Both men quickly turn and look toward the horizon as the noise appears to be getting closer.

"Oh, shit!"

"What? What the hell is that?

"Bugs."

"Bugs?"

"Yeah, large ones. From the sound of it, there's a whole lot of 'em heading this way."

"Wonderful...now what?"

"Let's finish this discussion elsewhere."

"I'm all for it, let's get outta here."

"Hold them back while I make the cut."

"Sure thing."

Slop Doggy begins to concentrate, searching for the seam to open the dimensional doorway. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it seems. HT draws his firearms, pointing in the direction of the ever increasing, high-pitched squeal. He sees what looks to be something like a black tidal wave in the darkness, moving toward them with great speed.

"Uh, there's a lot of fucking bugs approaching our twenty!"

"Our what?"

"Our location!...I don't know if I can hold them all off!"

"TRY!"

"Easier said than done, buddy!"

"Hold on!"

Slop Doggy turns and fires an enormous bolt of electricity, striking the titanic wave dead center. "Hope that helps a little," he yells out while turning back around.

"Yeah, thanks!"

HT begins firing both pistols into the darkness, hitting whatever jumps into his line of fire. These bugs don't move like people, their attacks are not statistically predictable. It would seem that the skills of a Cleric is not as effective against a swarm of these creatures as it is with others. He decides to change tactics and resort to blind firing.

"Slop! we need to exfil, NOW!"

"What?"

"We need to get the hell out of here!"

"I'm trying!"

"What the hell is taking so long?"

"The noise these bugs are making is causing some kind of interference."

More bugs break through their line of defense as HT tries to target the closest ones. Switching back to Gun Kata, he is able to take down more of the creatures, but their hard armor-like exoskeleton is proving to make that task more difficult.

"Slop, Anytime now!"

"Alright, I got it...let's go!"

As both Slop Doggy and HT jump into the rift, a single bug tries to enter as well. Slop immediately closes the doorway, decapitating the creature and spraying yellow "bug juice" in all directions.

"Damn, that shit got all over me."

"Better his blood than ours, HT."

"True."

* * *

As they exit the portal, they are greeted by two teenage girls and a young man, possibly the same age as Slop Doggy.

"Holy crap, you two look like shit," one of the girls blurted out, "You smell like it too."

"Anyways, everyone," Slop began, trying to ignore the comment, "I'd like all of you to meet HT, a new member of our Coalition. He..."

"Wait, this is your coalition?" interrupted HT, "No offense, but these people are just...kids."

"No offense taken, but you're just an old man." the other girl retorted, "An old man full of testosterone, judging by the way you carry those guns around."

"Hey, I'm only 35. I ain't that old."

"Like I said, an old man." she says with a smirk.

"Hey, that's quite enough, Momentai." The young man spoke out, "Don't mind them, they're like that with everyone they meet. They'll grow on you. By the way, my name is Spryous, good to meet you."

"Thanks, nice to meet you as well."

"Aw, what the hell." the first girl stood up, "I'm Chloe and this is Asumon."

"Hello, nice to meet you Chloe. Uh, cute pet. How long have you had that snake-lizard thing?"

"I'm a salamander, "Asumon responded with a hiss, "And I'm not a pet, I'm a Digimon."

"...uh...sorry..."

"And that there is Momentai," Slop says, pointing to the girl sitting on the couch, "Next to her is her guardian, Aequus."

"Yeah, we just met...Uh, hi." Momentai responds with a half smile.

"Hi...I apologize for the comment I made earlier..."

"Eh, don't worry about it. You know how the saying goes, no harm, no foul."

Slop Doggy then takes HT to another room which appears to be the kitchen and pulls out two glasses from one of the cabinets.

"What do you want to drink? I'm sure you're thirsty after what we went through."

"Uh, water's fine, thanks."

Slop Doggy opens the fridge and takes out a jug of cold water, placing it on the counter next to HT.

"Listen Slop, I really appreciate you saving my ass back there, but I never agreed on joining your...Coalition. Don't get me wrong, I've spent my entire career being a 'team player', but this is insane. Your group is only four strong. Not only that, but how much battle experience do these kids have? Judging by their age, I'd have to say none...except maybe Spryous. Are you sure you want to put them in situations like the one we faced earlier?"

"HT, I understand your concern, but this group is special. Each of us has special gifts, special abilities. They can hold their own against most anything out there. They wouldn't be here if I wasn't absolutely positive about it. We could use a person like you. From the look of it, you've got plenty of battle experience, something this group needs."

"Listen, my forte is hostage rescue, I was trained to save people. I only kill if it's necessary. I'm one of the few who believe in using lethal force as a last resort."

"How's that explain your desire to kill the person who murdered Lilinette?"

"...that's different."

"How so?"

"..."

"You say that you were trained to save people. If you help us stop Kuroouja, you'll be saving the lives of billions upon billions of people throughout the multiverse. As well as keeping your promise to Bethany."

"...I'll agree only on one condition."

"Name it."

"The mercenary named Dasan Teki, as well as his men. When we find them, they're all mine, I don't want anyone else to interfere."

"Alright, you got it. I promise you."

"O.K. then, I'm in."

"Well, welcome aboard, HT."

"Thanks...By the way, is Slop Doggy your real name?"

**End of Chapter/Intro 2**

* _This quote is taken from the song, "__**Breathing"**_ _by __Lifehouse_


	3. Chapter 3: The Path not Taken

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_I would like to thank everyone for their comments/reviews as well as **Oranos** for helping me with this chapter and pointing out a few problems with the previous one. I would also like to give an honorable mention to **The Doorstopper** for his invaluable assistance with this chapter. Please be advised that the following takes place between chapter 1 and 2 of CoA: James Miles. Well, I hope you enjoy this next installment of CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker._

* * *

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

* * *

_**Chapter 3: The Path not Taken**_

The current HQ of the CoA.

The rain beat relentlessly against the windows of the monolithic glass building. The dim moonlight intermittently rushed in to fill the darkened room, moving about in its own unique way. As the treacherous winds pushed the dark storm along its undefined path, the moonlight seemed to falter and was suddenly smothered, darkening the room once again. HT stands in front of an usually large window on the western side of the building, taking in every flash of lightning, every drop of rain, every monstrous clap of thunder...and recalls the day when his fate had suddenly changed paths.

"How long has it been?" He said to no one, "A month, maybe two since I joined this...coalition." Three brilliant bolts of lightening pierced the darkness and for mere fractions of a second, the room was completely illuminated, revealing everyone and everything within. "The odds are extremely stacked against us with such an overwhelming enemy force. These people I've allied myself with, have incredible powers, enough to overthrow a small nation, but there's still only four of them. Miles just recently joined the group, he has no powers or abilities what so ever, what does he actually bring to the table? Hell, I'm probably just as bad, I ain't got no special abilities besides Authorian and even then, I'm still a pup compared to Slop." Another series of lightning bolts light up the sky, followed moments later by the sonic shockwaves they produce. "This whole situation just seems so futile. What can this ragtag group really hope to accomplish?" Showing utter frustration, he slams his fist onto the table beside the window. "Maybe I should have just taken the bullet instead of Bethany's hand. It definitely would've made things a lot easier. I mean, I've lost everything that was important in my life. Nette was everything I lived for, now that she's gone, what do I have left...revenge?"

The moonlight once more began to fill the room. In that moment, HT spots a pale shadow appearing beside his left foot. He turns to see James Miles standing just short of the doorway. 'At least there's finally some maturity within this club,' he thinks to himself as the chronologically displaced man from another point in history stands there, seemingly waiting to be invited in.

"Am I disturbing you, HT?"

"No, of course not Miles. I was just..."

"Preoccupied in deep thought?"

"Seriously, am I that easy to read or something?"

"I don't understand."

"Well, a lot of people seem to know what I'm thinking and end up finishing my sentences for me. It's really starting to get annoying."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Heh, don't worry about it. I've just been on edge lately."

"I can relate."

"I'm certain. Come on in and take a load off."

HT points to one of the armchairs located near the wall away from the window. James steps into the room and eases himself into the comfortable looking chair while glancing at a glass pitcher filled with what seems to be orange juice, placed on the center table.

"Would you like a glass?"

"Is that orange juice?"

"Screwdriver."

"Excuse me."

"It's orange juice mixed with vodka."

"Vodka? A Russian liquor?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Uh, sure. I would like to sample some."

"Eh, sample some? Nah buddy, if you're gonna drink with me, we're definitely gonna get wasted."

"Wasted?"

"Yeah, you know...fucked up...FUBARed."

"I do not understand your meaning."

HT takes an empty glass from the table and fills it almost to the brim with the alcoholic concoction. "Here, just drink it. Trust me," HT says with a grin. James takes the glass and sniffs it after taking a quick peek of its contents, he then begins taking small sips.

"This is...very good actually. It's quite refreshing."

"Yeah, ain't it a kicker?"

"By the way, I apologize for my abrupt intrusion, but I heard a commotion and decided to investigate."

"Yeah, that was me taking my frustrations out on that poor little table over there," HT answers, pointing to the splintered remains of the broken furniture.

"May I inquire as to..."

"No, not really. I'd rather not discuss my personal problems to anyone right now."

"I understand."

"...So, British, huh?

"Pardon me?"

"You're from England, Britain, the U.K. or whatever you guys called your country back in the day."

"Uh, yes...I am from..."

"You're suppose to be dead, you know."

"Uh, I'm sorry?"

"I've read about you in the history books. Captain James Miles, father of political and military hero, Thomas Miles. Died February 13, 1872. You're a long way from home, Captain."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that fact. As soon as this...campaign is complete, Russel...er, I mean Sir Doggy, has promised to find a way to send me home."

"Yeah well, I don't know for sure when that'll be. I'd offer my services to you, but I'm still new to this Authorian thing. In order to send you back, I would have to know **exactly** where, when and what your world looks like. If not, we'd end up lost forever in limbo, oblivion perhaps."

"That isn't a pretty thought."

"No, not in the slightest."

"Just out of curosity, are you American?"

"Why yes I am. Born in the great state of California...well, maybe not so great."

"I know many men from the colonies, most of whom I continue to remain friends with to this day."

"Cool. I've got some Brit buds with the S.A.S. that I cross-trained with. Great bunch of guys. I really learned a lot from 'em. They really know their shit."

"S.A.S.?"

"Oh sorry, I keep forgetting **when** you're from...it's an acronym for Her Majesty's _Special Air Service_. They're a Special Ops unit with the British Army that specializes in counter-terrorism and counter revolutionary warfare. These people are one of the best in the world and many nations' special forces are modeled after them. Like I said, a great bunch of guys."

"It is fabulous to hear that my country has established such a military prowess."

"Yeah, I thought you'd get a kick outta that."

"Well, what about you? You mentioned that you also served in a military special forces...branch."

"Yeah, I was with the U.S. Army's Delta Force for some years. We specialized in counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, raids, snatch and grabs, recon, so on and so forth. I retired from the military and chose a career in law enforcement, specifically SWAT."

"SWAT?"

It stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. They're a police tactical unit whose primary function is hostage rescue, drug raids, barricaded suspect apprehension, warrant service...and the list goes on. Although, I've recently resigned from that occupation."

"May I inquire as to why? You still seem quite young."

HT remains quiet for several seconds, staring deeply into the drink he holds in his hand. The look in his face is that of someone with a terrible burden on his shoulders and in his soul. He opens his mouth for a second as if to say something, but immediately closes it shut, squeezing the glass tightly to a point of almost shattering. He begins speaking again in a lower tone, almost as loud as a whisper.

"...I...uh...lost someone I deeply loved due to my carelessness. She would've been..."

"HT, I'm truly sorry if I upset you with that question. Let us change the conversation."

"Uh...no need to apologize, you didn't know. Anyways, how about you? Judging by your uniform, from the first time I saw you, I knew you had to be military. So what's Captain Miles' story other than what's written?"

"Well, I was on a campaign in the Indies..."

HT got up and poured more of the alcoholic beverage into James' glass as he continued his narrative. He sat back down, turned on the lamp which was a mere arms length away and listened to the story as another lightning bolt lit up the sky and the moonlight retreated back behind the clouds.

* * *

They've been talking now for what seemed like hours. The morning sun has already begun creeping its way through a small break in the cumulous cloud covered sky. The meager light is a welcome sight for the two men who have spent most of their days here under often stormy and overcast weather conditions. As they continue their conversation, the group consisting of Slop Doggy, Momentai, Chloe and Spryous return from their single day reconnaissance mission.

"Well, regarding the chain of command around here, there really isn't any. Slop is pretty much the...," HT began before being suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Slop Doggy.

"HT, James. It's nice to know that the two of you are getting along. Uh...is that alcohol I smell."

"Hehe. Yeah, me and Miles were just talking all night, swapping stories and stuff. The guy's got a good head on his shoulders. He's quite knowledgable in the art of warfare and battle tactics."

"That's great to hear."

"I appreciate the comment, HT."

"No problem Miles. Anyways Slop, how goes the recon?"

"Things went amazingly well. We managed to get some information regarding the location of the facility. It seems there's an entrance just outside of town."

"How many klicks from our insertion point to the target location? Have you located the point of entry for this clandestine lab...facility thing?"

"Klicks? Oh, I'd say about 1 or 2 kilometers from the shop and yeah, we found this big cavern which I believe is like an anterchamber that leads to a tunnel complex. Let's talk some more in the kitchen, I'm pretty famished."

"Excuse me for a minute, Miles."

"Sure."

HT gets up from his chair and leaves the room, following Slop towards the kitchen. "Good. So what's the plan, Slop?..."

James sighed. Even though it seems like these people have finally accepted him into their fold to some degree, he feels like a fifth wheel among the group. Getting up to stretch, he moves over to the window and stares out at the foreign landscape which has practically become his prison. 'After all this time, they continue to exclude me from their discussions and missions,' he thinks to himself, 'It would seem as though they still haven't fully trusted me or maybe they just don't have any confidence in my abilities.' All he can think about now is his family. He hasn't stopped worrying about them since arriving at this strange, alien world. "Katie, Martha...I hope the two of you are alright," he says aloud to nobody in particular.

Back in the kitchen, HT and Slop continue their conversation as the latter removes a bowl and a box of cereal from the cabinet. He takes out a carton of milk from the refrigerator and places it on the island countertop.

"I think it's probably a good idea to give it a few days then scout this cavern first, just you and me for now. If everything's good, we'll come back and schedule the raid for a later date, just in case any of us were accidently spotted."

"I agree, HT. We need the element of surprise on our side if we're gonna pull off this mission. If we want to disturb Kuroouja's hold in that area, we should strike their logistics centers hard and fast before they have time to realize what's happening."

"Hard and fast, shock and awe is how I work. What kind of opposition are we expecting?"

"The usual bugs, maybe an Oni or two and possibly even shadow servants. If we destroy their atmospheric support systems, they'll drop like flies...no pun intended."

"Slop, I'm concerned though. These hit 'n run tactics we've been initiating...have they been making the slightest dent in Kuroouja's military potency?"

"I'm not going to lie to you HT. I'm really not certain, but I do believe it has, however."

"Hell, at least you're honest, that's what I admire about you. My former CO was always blowing sunshine up our asses no matter how fucked the situation was."

"Uh, thanks."

"Now, what personnel are you planning to bring for this op?"

"Yourself, along with Momentai, Chloe and James. I think Spryous should stay behind and 'hold the fort' while we're away. With his abilities and powers, it shouldn't be..."

"Wait, you might want to reconsider...concerning Miles."

"Why? You said it yourself, he's brilliant when it comes to warfare tactics."

"Yeah, that's the point, 'Warfare tactics'. From talking with him all night, he's extremely knowledgable in tactics with regards to war on a larger scale. He can confidently lead a large infantry of men into battle. However, this next mission involves unconventional guerrilla warfare with a small squad. From what I gathered, although I could be wrong, he's a leader of men, but not an actual 'operator'. I'd more than likely be happy to take orders from him if this were a battle, but truth be told, it's not. Don't get the wrong idea though. I like the guy, I believe his hardened expertise will prove useful in full scale engagements with the enemy. Unfortunately, he has no weapons, no powers and his skills are clearly redundant for this next operation...just my two cents, it's still your call."

"I see your point...it would probably be a good idea if he stays behind with Spryous for the time being. We can definitely use his traits and experience in other situations, although I know he's been itching to get out there. We'll have a group meeting and I'll inform the other members of my decision after I finish eating."

"O.K., sounds good."

* * *

Exiting the portal created by Slop, the group arrives at their planned destination...a run-down, deserted shop. Like choreography that was well rehearsed, HT breaks left, clearing his side of the room for possible threats while moving his weapons in a sweeping arc. He is immediately followed by Slop Doggy who breaks right to clear the right side of the room. From the looks of it, the entire building has been abandoned for some time. Dust and cobwebs cover the creaking floorboards, the old broken furniture and the rotting wooden shelves.

"HT, clear!"

"Slop, clear!"

Momentai and Chloe glance at each other with a look of bewilderment.

"Uhm...what the hell's all that about?" Momentai asked the two.

"Yeah, like is all of that clear, clear, here, there stuff really necessary? I mean seriously," Chloe says, furrowing her brow.

"It's S.O.P. for entering an unknown room or location. It's best to clear the entire area before proceeding, that way we aren't caught off guard or ambushed by an enemy laying in wait."

"We aren't soldiers, HT. You've gotta remember that. And what in the world is an S.O.P.?"

"It stands for _Standard Operating Procedures_. I understand that none of you are soldiers, but if we're to execute this mission properly, we need to operate under military guidelines due to the nature of this operation. Unless of course you'd rather walk into a room unknowingly controlled by the enemy then get your head blown off when you're not looking."

"...yeah whatever, we'll do it your way, but don't expect the two of us to copy the both of you," retorts Chloe with a sigh.

"Nobody expects you to, Chloe," Slop responds, "HT and I had an agreement that because of his experience, under certain combat scenarios, we would do things his way. It's to protect the rest of us and ensure that we accomplish our mission, whatever that may be."

"Alright, we understand," Momentai said, poking Chloe with her elbow, "Right?"

"Ow! Uh, yeah...right." Chloe responded with a low growl.

"So what now, Slop?" HT asked while peering out the window.

"There's still a lot of people out there. We don't know which of them has been turned. I say we wait until sunset even if Ketsuekiouja's army roams the streets at night. This way, we won't be spotted so easily."

The group begins nodding their heads in agreement as Slop takes a seat near one of the windows, carefully watching the activities outside. In the streets lined with buildings made mostly of brick and mortar, the townsfolk go about their daily business, oblivious to the group's presense.

After a couple of hours, the group heads out from the shop under the dim, purple twilight. As the streetlamps flicker their way to life, they carefully make their way outside of town, following what seems to be the only road coming from and going to it. After some time, they finally locate the entrance to the cave and stop just short of the entryway.

"Chloe, I want you and Asumon to stay here. We need you to keep a lookout for anything...suspicious. Find some place to hide," Slop points to the hillside above their location, "Probably up there, where you can clearly see the entrance."

"Oh...O.K., Slop," she says in a low disappointed voice, "C'mon Asumon, let's go."

Chloe and Asumon quickly climb up the hill and reach the ridgeline, taking cover behind a large tree surrounded by bushes. She gives a thumbs up then radios in, informing them that she's ready.

"Alright HT, how do you want to handle this?"

"Slop, you take point. If you're right about these tunnels, your abilities should be able to help us locate our primary objective. Momentai, rear guard, cover Slop. I'll trail you and cover our six. Make sure that we're not too close to each other, keep at least an arm's length away."

"Alright, sounds like a plan. Let's do this. Are you guys ready?"

"Yup, I'm ready," Momentai nodded.

"Good to go." HT responds with a thumbs up.

"O.K., let's move people."

Slop Doggy unsheaths his Katana from the hip of his waistband and begins moving forward, followed by Momentai then HT with both pistols drawn. They soon enter the large cavern and notice that its walls are covered by dozens of runes which hadn't been there before, during their last visit. They continue moving further down into the deep caves, walking around huge stalagmites, under sinister-looking stalactites and over the malachite-colored pool of water.

"Damn place reminds me of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico," HT says in a low tone.

"I wouldn't know, never been there," Slop responds.

After walking nearly half a mile, Slop Doggy finds the passageway to the tunnels at the far end of the cave.

"HT-Chloe, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, Mister H. I can hear you fine."

"How's it look out there? Anything strange?"

"Nope. All's quiet."

"Good, stay out of sight O.K.," Slop says through his communication device.

"Sure thing, Slop."

"Alright, we're going into the tunnels now, keep in touch."

"Kay, good luck guys."

"Thanks."

As the group enters the passage leading to the tunnels, Momentai turns on the portable lantern she brought with her, illuminating the path up ahead. The deeper they traversed into the tunnels, the natural light from the cavern begins to fade in front of them. Suddenly, the group hears crackling and static through their communication equipment causing them to pause momentarily and try to translate the garbled message.

"...*_static_*...Slo...*_static_*...get...*_static_*...there...*_static_*...trap...*_static_*"

"Chloe! You're breaking up. We can't understand you! Chloe!" Slop yelled.

"Dammit, let's head back Slop! The walls in this tunnel are causing too much interference."

"Alright let's go! Momentai!"

"I'm right behind you."

The three of them race back towards the large cavern until Chloe's radio transmission was a tad clearer.

"...I'm running back towards...town. To the...safehouse," Chloe says under heavy breathing, "I'll be...fine there."

"Chloe! What's happening? What's going on?" Slop yells into his microphone.

"Guys, it's...*static*...trap...I don't know...where they came from...*static*...appeared...from inside...blocking the entrance. There's a whole shitload of...*static* ."

"A shitload of what?" Momentai asked in an intensified tone.

"...*buzzzz*..."

At that moment, the familiar high-pitched squeal of bugs begin to fill the tunnels. The echos bouncing against the walls, intensifies their screeching noise, causing slight disorientation among the three . The walls of the passageway are suddenly swarmed with hundreds of the horrendous creatures.

"SHIT! SLOP, MOMENTAI...GO BACK! THEY'RE COMING THIS WAY!"

As the three hastily head back deeper into the tunnels, HT quickly turns and unloads a massive hail of bullets, taking down several bugs in a few short seconds. Each bug he kills however, is replaced by another. No matter how many he manages to dispatch, it seems to be a hopeless situation with death being the inevitable result, until...

"HT get down!"

"Wha?"

HT looks back to see Slop holding his Katana vertically in front of his face. He then says two words, "_**Scatter Senbonzakura**_.", triggering the blade to glow a brilliant, bright pink. In an instant, starting from the tip and moving down towards the hilt, the blade seperates into thousands of slender pieces, each resembling cherry blossom petals. These petal-like blades shoot forth in a huge wave, flying towards the many bugs blocking their escape route. HT drops to his belly, evading Slop's attack while continuously firing into the heart of the appoaching swarm. Both blades and bullets cut through the horde, annihilating everything in their path. In mere moments, nothing is left but quivering bug pieces laying scattered along the ground.

"Thanks for saving my ass again, Slop," HT grunted while getting up from the ground, "That's two I owe you."

"Don't worry about it, you don't owe me a thing, you helped me as well. We're a team, remember?"

"Yeah, of course."

The three quickly head back towards the mouth of the cave, but their escape is suddenly blocked again, this time by a large gorilla-like Oni standing at least ten feet in height.

"Son of a bitch!" HT muttered in frustration.

"Momentai..."

"I'm on it Slop!"

She extends her hand, causing the groud to quiver and shake. Then without warning, several stalactites attached to the ceiling of the cavern, fall from their resting places toward the huge demon standing in their way. However, instead of dropping straight down, they curve horizontally away from the creature, three heading left and the others heading in the opposite direction. A second or two later, they quickly change course and curve back towards the Oni, impaling it in the head, neck and torso causing it to literally tear in half. It's horrendous shrieks of pain can be heard a mile away. Both halves of its violently wriggling body begin to sizzle and melt causing black steam and smoke to rise into the air. Nothing remained of the creature except for a couple of puddles of dark tar-like goo.

"You know, you could have just flat out killed the damn thing, but noooo...you had to get all fancy and stuff."

"What can I say Slop, I enjoy my work."

"Guys, I don't mean to ruin a heart-felt moment, but we really need to evac, right now!" HT yells while hastily moving towards the exit.

He turns around to see another swarm of bugs raining down from the ceiling, effectively cutting him off from the rest of the group. Strangely, they ignore him and attack only Slop and Momentai. He draws both weapons again and fires directly into the enormous moving black mass of bugs. Suddenly, he's hit in the back by three extremely long black tentacles, piercing his kevlar-laced jacket. Lucky for him, his bullet resistant vest stopped the brunt of the attack and absorbed most of the impact. He flies forward, crashing into one of the large stalagmites and damaging his glasses. He slowly turns around to find another large Oni moving dangerously toward him. Deciding to fight this thing mano-a-mano, he takes out the Prozium injection device and injects a dosage of the drug into his neck.

The Oni jumps high into the air then dives feet first towards HT. At the last second, HT rolls out of the way as the Oni comes crashing down upon the mineral-formed rock, shattering it into a hundred pieces. In one fluid motion, HT gets to his feet while drawing his firearms and discharging a barrage of bullets into the back of the creatures head. It roars a fraction of a second before its head explodes in a large mass of black goo and slimy brain matter. The creature however, is not completely dead. It swings around and grabs HT by the throat with its extended tentacles, driving him hard into another rock formation. Setting both guns to full-auto, He fires one weapon into the Oni's center mass while simultaneously firing the other pistol above him into the cavern's ceiling. Small explosions echo throughout the large cave as pieces of rock and dirt fall from overhead. Finally, a massive stalactite drops from above, crushing the Oni in one big splat. HT looks on as the servant's squashed carcass liquefies like the one which Momentai killed earlier.

He re-holsters both weapons and slowly makes his way back toward Slop and Momentai's previous location as the light within the cavern begins to fade. He screams out for the others, hearing them continuously call his name.

"SLOP! MOMENTAI!"

From out of nowhere, the entire area suddenly becomes near pitch black. The ground underneath him begins to move in a jello-like motion causing him to become disoriented and nauseous. Losing his bearings, he drops to the ground on his hands and knees. He can still hear Slop and Momentai calling out to each other in panic screams. Rolling onto his back, he sees what seems to be a giant shadow servant looming over him. He tries to crawl away, but falls off a ledge, landing into the bluish-green waters of the pool. For some odd reason, he begins regaining his senses again. Could it be that the shadow creatures can not follow him into the water? HT evaluates the situation and decides to fall back before it's too late. He doesn't know if Slop or Momentai made it out alive, his only choice for the time being is to retreat and return later to save the rest of the group. While holding his breath, he cuts opens a rift to their HQ and thinks to himself, 'Maybe I should have taken the bullet...'

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4: Walk the Wire, Part 1

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_Just wanted to say sorry for being MIA for so long. Life's been busy, new girlfriend has been driving me crazy and I lost my account log in info. Looks like everything is on hiatus, so I thought maybe I'd get some new chapters going to maybe spark some life for this community. Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for their comments/reviews. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker. _

* * *

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Walk the Wire, Part 1  
**_

_Lake Tahoe, California._

The elegant blue waters of the large, beautiful lake was definitely a sight to behold. The happy couple slowly made their way out of Emerald Bay, enjoying the mountainous sights and sounds of the area. Their boat was cruising at roughly 12 knots per hour as they passed the shallow entrance to the small, secluded south-west portion of the lake. They've spent almost all day boating and strangely enough, they couldn't have been happier. The sun was still hovering high above the western horizon as they traveled north, towards King's Beach. His hands began sweating profusely, anxious to surprise his wife with the biggest gift he's ever given her.

"Sweetheart, what did you think of Vikingsholm?" he asked curiously

"It's beautiful," she replied, "I'd love to live in a place like that. I also love the fact that it's right next to the water."

"Well, maybe someday we can live in a place just like that one." he said smiling

"Yeah...maybe." returning a smile of her own

'It's not nearly as enormous as that 38-room mansion,' he thought to himself, 'but I hope the house I just bought for her is close enough.'

As they got to almost the center of the lake, he decides to stop the boat temporarily and take out their camera. This spot is actually a great place for taking pictures. 360 degrees of mountain views that just takes your breath away. A light breeze was blowing gently over the water as he began taking multiple pictures in every direction.

"Darling?..."

"Yeah, Dear?" he responded, bringing the camera down in order to see her more clearly

"Thank you, Honey...I love you so much."

"Thanks for what?" he asked, slightly furrowing his brow

"For being you and for loving me unconditionally."

"You're welcome, but there's no need to thank me for that. You make me very happy, plain and simple. I love you and definitely couldn't live without you."

She turned to him and gave the most beautiful smile he's ever seen. The bright sunlight shining down on her, made her face glow with a brilliant radiance as the cool, summer breeze made her light, brown hair flow with such elegant grace. To him, it was like looking at an angel. He quickly brought the camera back up, not wanting to miss an opportunity to immortalize the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

"Perfect." he said, smiling joyously as he snaps the photograph

"What is?" she asked

"You...only you, Darling" replying to her question happily

"But dear...aren't you forgetting something?" she said with an almost eerie voice

"Huh?"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she repeated again, but in a louder, more sinister tone

"I...don't...wait, what? What's wr..wrong wi..with you?" he stammered uncontrollably

"You really don't remember?" responding as though extremely irritated

"Re...member wh...wh..what?"

"That you let me die..."

"Let you...die? But I...tried..."

"Not hard enough it would seem. You had about four seconds to save me. FOUR! But you lost your nerves. You really didn't love me. If you did, I'd still be alive today, not buried all alone next to the shore of this frickin' lake! Why did I even marry you?"

"Please, Honey...I tried...really...I did."

"Tried? Now that's hilarious. Look, look at what you did to me."

Lifting her shirt to expose her abdomen, he glances down to find several wounds appearing in random order, over her entire body. Horror and shock begins to take over his senses and the heavy heart he feels beneath his bosom, rapidly races unabated.

"You promised that you'd always protect me! You promised that we would grow old together! YOU LIED! YOU LIED!" Lilinette screamed, like a woman possessed

"No Honey...I swear...I tried to save you. Why won't you believe me?"

He watches as her body slowly burns and turn to ash. Tears start flowing uncontrollably from both of his eyes as he tries to reach out for her, but it's too late. Her body quickly disappeared like dust in the wind and he grabs at nothing but empty air. The sun that shone so brightly mere moments ago, sank beneath the horizon in an unnatural and frightening fashion. The previous blue sky became dark and overcast and the former calm, blue waters turned dingy gray with large violent waves crashing against the sides of the boat. He hears a voice from behind, a voice which he will never forget. The same voice of the one responsible for his wife's death.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the scrawny, little runt who couldn't even protect his woman." the voice said laughing almost maniacally

"YOU!" HT shouted with hatred so strong, it can be felt within the deepest pit of one's soul

"Who'd you expect?" Dasan Teki uttered in a sarcastic fashion, "Your wife? Hahahaha!"

Without hesitation, HT releases the Grammaton Cleric pistols from the special constructs hidden within both sleeves of his jacket. As the pistols fall smoothly into the palms of his hands, he quickly grips the handles and brings both weapons to bear, aiming for the mercenary's head. Squeezing both triggers in rapid succession, he fires off an enormous barrage of gunfire, but unfortunately, it strikes nothing but the energy shield protecting Dasan's entire frontal region. HT continues the onslaught relentlessly without so much as batting an eye, but the results remain the same.

"You really are a stupid human." Dasan laughed with amusement, "Those puny, little guns are no match for me, you idiot."

"F*%# YOU!" HT cursed aloud, "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Here, lemme show you what a real weapon is."

Pulling out a ridiculously large laser rifle-type firearm, Dasan releases the safety lever and fires a pair of green energy beams at the former special ops soldier. HT hears the sizzling sound and electrical discharge of energy a split second before the beams impact his pistols. The ensuing blasts inflicts tremendous damage, completely destroying his weapons and vaporizing both hands. In shock, HT drops to his knees in excruciating pain.

"ARGH!" HT screams out in anguish

Pointing the weapon directly at the center of HT's forehead, Dasan fires again, this time at point blank range.

"Time to die, little man."

HT sees a bright flash of light and feels intense heat before everything becomes completely pitch black. He wakes up screaming violently. Large amounts of sweat flows from every pore of his body, completely soaking the sheets of his bed. He hears the consecutive clicking sound of his pistol's hammer continuously striking the firing pin with each pull of the trigger. Luckily, he had decided to keep the chamber of his firearm empty while having a full magazine in the well. This was due to a similar incident in which he accidentally discharged his weapon after a horrendous nightmare, causing his previous bedroom to be riddled with bullet holes and shattered windows.

"HT. It's ok...it's ok. You're safe. I'm here with you." A woman's voice said as she secures HT's weapon from his grasp while holding down his arms to restrain him.

"Wha?...where?...who?..."

"You're in your bedroom. Don't move around too much or you'll reopen your wounds."

Squinting his eyes to help him focus, he's astonished to find a woman sitting beside him.

"B...Bethany? What're you...what happened? I can't seem to remember..."

"You rushed in alone into enemy territory in order to rescue me after I was taken hostage by Dasan Teki and his mercenaries. As we got outnumbered by Kuroouja's forces, you saved my life by jumping in front of enemy fire, but as a result, you were severely injured. I did my best to hold them off, but there were just too many of them. Everything seemed hopeless until Slop Doggy and several members of the Coalition saved us in time."

"Slop?...I gotta thank him and the rest of the gang..."

"You're welcome, just don't pull that kind of crap again." Slop uttered, standing just beyond the bedroom door along with some Coalition members, "We're a team, remember? I sorta understand why you did it, but against such an enormous enemy force, going in alone was totally reckless."

"Sorry Slop...but...I had to save her. It was my own fault to begin with, I made a grave tactical error."

"I would say it was more like a huge lapse in judgment, HT." James replied, slightly angered, "I expected better from a seasoned soldier, such as yourself."

"Miles, I..."

"Do not concern yourself at the moment, just rest and get better. We can discuss things once you have fully recovered."

"...Roger that, James. Thank you." HT acknowledged in a low tone while holding his bandage-covered wounds.

Getting up from the side of HT's bed, Bethany makes her way over to the door and closes it. Turning off the bedroom lights, she slowly turns to face HT. With only the dim moonlight to partially illuminate the darkened room, HT momentarily mistakes the female silhouette standing in the shadow, for Lilinette. The resemblance is amazingly uncanny.

"HT, would you mind if I stay with you for the night?"

"...No, of course not, Bethany. Please stay."

"Thank you."

Moving back towards HT's bed, Bethany begins removing her wardrobe in front of a shocked HT.

"Uh..."

"I hope you don't mind. Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Well...uh...noooo, not...at all." HT replied, blushing with embarrassment. "How can this be?" he thinks to himself, "even her body is exactly the same as Lilinette's..."

Lowering herself gradually into bed, HT painfully tries to reposition himself so as to give Bethany more space on the cramped mattress.

"No." She said, "There's no need for you to move over, I can fit just fine. I don't want you to re-injure yourself."

"O.K."

Lying side by side together, Bethany slowly puts her left arm over HT's chest and places her head on his left shoulder. HT isn't sure what to make of it. The touch of her skin on his body is making him more ecstatic with each passing second. Is this what he really wants? What about his wife? Even after all this time, he hasn't stopped loving Lilinette. So how can he betray her like this? How can he be falling in love with her sister? He wants to tell Bethany that he can not do this, but unfortunately, deep down inside, he truly yearns for her touch.

"HT, there are...things I need to tell you about Lilinette and I. Things that I haven't been truly honest with you about."

"What are you talking about?" HT asked, looking at her with suspicion as his brow furrows

"Tomorrow. I'll explain everything tomorrow morning. For now, just get some sleep."

"But..."

"I said get some sleep." she replied in a firm tone

Using her fingers to physically close HT's eyelids, she tenderly whispers something in his ear, causing him to quickly lose consciousness. In a soft, low voice she says, "I'm sorry I lied to you..."

* * *

_Four days ago._

The entire Coalition is gathered in the grand room of their complex to discuss an upcoming mission. In attendance is Taiyououja, a former General of Kuroouja's forces, now an ally of this ragtag group as well as HT's former mentor, Bethany.

"We have strong evidence that Kuroouja has invaded Lexostral, a planet located in the outer quadrant of this galaxy, who's main faction is a major supporter of the rebellion." Bethany divulged with certainty, "With their forces on the side of those who oppose Kurooouja, we as a whole have a greater chance of winning this war. Kuroouja knows this and has kidnapped the Lexostralian King's daughter as a bargaining chip to ensure they stay out of this conflict."

"I shouldn't have to explain how important it is that we find a way to rescue her." Slop interjected, "For the moment, she is our prime objective."

"Do we have any intel to her whereabouts?" HT asked, glancing at both Slop Doggy and Bethany

Stepping forward, Taiyououja responded, "Yes, my spies have confirmed that she is being inconspicuously held at a desert fortress located on a planet which Kurooouja has recently seized control of."

"What kind of enemy forces are we talking about here?" HT quickly questioned, "Do we have detailed maps and plans with regards to the compound itself and the surrounding area. Defenses, security systems, blah, blah, blah."

"Mostly lizard-type humanoids, but no dark servants. My...agents on the inside have provided me with all the necessary information that your league requires for a rescue operation."

Taiyououja activates a strange device placed on the center table in front of the assembled group. A three dimensional holographic image appears above it, showing the external view of the large fortress. With the press of a button, the image changes to an internal cut-away view of the complex showing everything, from entire rooms to hallways, doors and windows. Taiyououja then points to a room located in the center of the third level.

"From what I'm told, this is most likely the location where the Princess is being held."

"Opposition?" James inquired, "What exactly are we up against?"

"A total military force of about 250 to 300, armed with the most advanced weaponry in this part of the universe. They have about 100 to 200 soldiers patrolling the surrounding vicinity outside of the fortress."

"To make matters more difficult, this fortress is heavily shielded against teleportation abilities, including Authorian. This shielding extends outward to an unverified distance."

"Wonderful...should be a piece of cake." HT muttered with sarcasm, "Guess we'll have to do this the old-fashion way then."

"I know this isn't going to be easy," Slop stated, "but we need to make this happen, somehow. James, HT, what do you guys think? To me, this seems more of a military-type operation. I need both of your inputs."

"Well, on my part, this seems to be a snatch-and-grab type deal." HT said, sitting noticeably uncomfortable in his chair, "But with such a large OPFOR*, the chances for success is considerably very low."

"I agree." James replied, his right hand placed under his chin, "We would need two, possibly three groups to properly execute such a high-risk manoeuvre."

"Yep, my thoughts exactly. Obviously, I'll be the one to lead an Entry Element to rescue the chick..."

"The chick, HT?" James asked, visibly confused

"Yeah, you know...the broad...uh..." HT snapping his fingers, trying to find the proper words, "Slop, help me out here...the female...the lady-chick person."

"The Princess?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant. The Princess chick."

Most everyone in the room seems to shake their head slightly, thinking how rough around the edges HT really is.

"Ah, I see." James responded with a slight smile

"Anyways, I'll need three people for a 4-man Element. " Looking around the room hastily, HT quickly chooses the three candidates, "Madjack and Chikao... and Hans. This operation is going to require stealth and subterfuge. I'm going to divide our unit into two sub-teams. Hans with me. We'll be Blue Team."

"Roger that." he responded

"Madjack, you'll be the secondary Element Leader. Chikao, you're with Madjack of course. You two will be Red team."

"Ok."

"You got it, boss."

"Ok, sounds good." Slop replied, "James, any thoughts?"

"I believe we need to formulate a plan to provide some type of distraction for HT's group so they can easily infiltrate the compound. Two groups would be best, one as an assault force and the other as strong support, in case we encounter heavy resistance or the arrival of reinforcements."

"I agree with you, James. I'll lead the support team with our heavy hitters. Chloe and Asumon, Razen, PrincessKye, Tatsumiko and Terry, you six are with me."

"Sure, sure."

"No problem."

"Ok."

"Yeah, I'm with you."

"Me too."

James began to carefully look around the room for his personnel. Finally choosing, "Spryous, Kashi, Daisuke, Kyosuke, Miss Rai and Miss Christine. We shall lead the initial assault as a diversionary tactic. Please inform me if you feel you can not participate in this endeavor."

"I'm good."

"I also."

"I'm in."

"Count me in as well."

"I'd be stupid to say no."

"Why not? Sounds like fun."

"I will also accompany your group." Bethany said, quickly glancing at HT for a moment, "You may need another Authorian user to help transport such a large amount of people."

"You may be right." Slop responded

"Slop, what about the rest of us?" Momentai asked, looking quite disheartened

"Momentai, I need you and the rest of the group who hasn't been chosen for the mission, to hold the fort for now. I have a strange feeling in my gut that we could be attacked at any moment. Kurooouja's forces have found us once before. I'm pretty sure they'd be able to find our hideout again. I don't want this place to be left unguarded."

"I concur, Miss Momentai." James said in agreement

"Oh...ok, I guess." Momentai answered, pouting her lips in disappointment

"Well, I guess everything's settled then," HT uttered while getting up from his chair, "Hey Slop, next time, can we get more comfortable chairs?"

"Sure HT."

"James, there's something I wanna give you."

"What is it, HT?"

Opening a black duffle bag which he brought with him to the meeting, HT pulls out a compact, black-colored firearm. "This here is an H&K MP5/40 submachine gun. Chambered for the .40 caliber cartridge. It fires 800 rounds a minute. It has a red dot sight for quick target acquisition, long-range optics for sniping and a tactical light in the foregrip used for illumination as well as to temporarily blind and distract the opposition. It's been specially modified to fire unlimited, high yield explosive-tip ammunition, just like my Cleric pistols."

Giving the weapon to James with care, HT quickly explains and demonstrates the functions and proper handling of the firearm. "What an amazing feat of engineering...if we had firearms such as these during my many campaigns, we would have quickly won..."

"I'm glad you like it." HT interrupted with a grin, "I kinda figure you'd need your own weapon from now on."

"I am quite grateful, HT." James bows with deep appreciation

"Hey, don't mention it, Captain. Now, let's go check out that map and floor plans for the target location."

"Jolly good."

"Alright, everyone can go back to whatever they were doing before." Slop said aloud

As Slop Doggy, James Miles, Bethany and HT study the holographic images, the rest of the group disband, leaving only a few left in the room. HT calls over his hand-picked group.

"Madjack, Hans, Chikao...up front. I need you guys to pay attention here."

The three walk over to the front of the room and stop next to Taiyououja's holographic projector. HT turns his head slightly, pointing to a particular location on the three dimensional map.

"See this tunnel? Seems to be some kind of exhaust port which leads from the fortress and extends two klicks south-west. This will be our entry point. As luck would have it, there are no security defenses of any kind in that tunnel, passive or otherwise. We're going to hump it from the staging area to the tunnel, which is roughly about two miles."

"Uh...hump it?" Chloe asked, giggling, "As in..."

"Hike, hustle, hurry." HT explained, smiling, "I knew you were going to make some kinda comment like that. I was really trying not to use that word."

"Oh, ok. Hehehehe."

"Anyway, Madjack, we're going in blind so I'll need you to use your telepathy to scan our twelve o'clock for any enemy thoughts."

"Ok, shouldn't be a problem."

"Good. Me and Hans will take point. I want you two to trail and cover our six. If our team is spotted unexpectedly, radio in and say "Compromised". Once that happens, we fall back to the predetermined extraction point which is over here, got it?" HT said while pointing to another location on the map.

"Affirmative."

"Yep."

"Got it."

"Now, once we get inside, we'll need to split up. From the lower level, there's several ways to reach our principle target, but from what I gather, these two here are probably the safest routes. Red, I want you two to take this passage way in the east sector. Hans and I will take the one here, in the south-west area. We move silently and do not engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary. The first team to safely reach and rescue the Princess will radio in "Hotel in hand, moving to extract", any questions?"

"No."

"Uh, I don't think so..."

"Why do we say Hotel?"

"Hotel is the military phonetic alphabet for "H". H is the first letter of the word hostage."

"Well, why don't we just say hostage?"

"...good question, Madjack. I really don't know..." HT answered, a bit dumbfounded, "Let's just stick with the word hotel, ok."

"Kay."

"Last thing, weapons and equipment. Do you guys need any?"

"I'm a demon, remember?"

"I think I'm good, I've got my own."

"I really don't like guns..."

"Well then, I'll see you guys at zero six hundred tomorrow. Get some sleep, we've got a long day ahead of us." HT said, giving a thumbs up to the small group. He turns back toward Bethany, Slop and James. "Miles, would you be able to give us overwatch cover while we make our way to the tunnel entrance?"

"Yes, I believe that will be possible. I will position my team at this location, giving us the best field of view to cover your approach route as well as keeping us hidden from any roaming enemy patrols. As soon as your group is ready to enter the main fortress, contact me through our communication devices and we shall begin our assault."

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

"Russell, I mean Slop...position your group here," James said, pointing to a mountainous region on the southern part of the map, "If the enemy begins to overwhelm us, we shall retreat and head in this direction." Pointing to another location on the map, just to the right of mountain area. "As soon as the enemy travels past your group, flank them from behind so we can get them into a cross-fire, but be careful not to attack each others' group by accident. As soon as HT signals that he has the Princess, we will immediately transport back to our headquarters from each group's assigned extraction points."

"Like HT said, sounds like a plan."

* * *

_0530 Hours_

HT awoke to the sound of the loud, annoying buzz of his alarm clock. Groggily, he sat up in bed and cursed himself for drinking way too many shots of tequila several hours prior. He knows better than to do something so irresponsible the night before an important operation, but for some reason, his thoughts were haunted by his late wife more than usual. He kept running the same scenario over and over, trying to imagine what he could have done differently to save her. To make matters worse, he also hasn't stopped thinking about Bethany since her arrival. Just being around her again was somewhat unbearable. He's always had a strong attraction for her since the time they spent together in Laurentia. Everything about her reminded him of Lilinette. Her face, the touch of her skin, the scent of her body and the sound of her voice was strikingly too similar to be ignored.

After a quick, cold shower to regain his senses, HT opens a heavy-duty vault which stands six feet in height and four feet in width. Inside, HT's huge array of weaponry, lines every wall of the massive safe along with a collection of explosive devices and protective armor. After spending just a few seconds deciding what equipment to bring for the upcoming mission, he selects six cylindrical grey-metallic grenades labeled "**Model 7290 Flash Bang - 1.5 second delay**", breaching charges and several C4 explosives. He then places every item inside utility pouches of his ballistic load bearing vest. After donning the rest of his gear, he locks his weapons vault and heads out the door, closing it behind him. As he makes his way downstairs to the large dinning area where the rest of his team has been waiting patiently, his thoughts are currently on one person. 'Bethany,' he thinks to himself, 'Should you really come with us on this op? I feel like something bad is gonna happen...'

"A little late, aren't you HT?"

"Yeah, sorry Hans...long night."

"No kidding. You really look like crap. You gonna be ok?"

"Chikao, give our leader a break. Trust me, he'll be fine."

"Thanks Madjack." HT said, turning to her with a smile, "Anyway, let's get some chow then prep for deployment."

* * *

_0720 hours_

After breakfast, all the Coalition members involved in the rescue mission, assemble in the same enormous room in which they had their previous meeting the day before. Each group discusses their plan of action and each members' responsibilities. As Slop Doggy and James Miles speaks with their respective team members, HT goes over the mission specs with his crew.

"...once we get outside of that damn shielding, I'll open a portal to transport us back here."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Madjack, from my experience, nothing is ever that simple, but I'll do my best to get us through this."

"I trust you will, HT."

"Thank you."

"HT, rules of engagement?" Hans asked

"Only engage targets that pose a direct threat to our team. If at all possible, terminate with extreme prejudice. Otherwise, we remain in the shadows at all times. The less we are exposed to the enemy, the better our chances for success. Remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

"Huh?"

"Chikao, he's trying to say not to rush in recklessly. If we move slowly, carefully and deliberate, we can finish this mission quicker without making any mistakes."

"Oh...I see. Thanks for clearing that up, Hans."

"HT, by the way, are those flashbangs you have on your vest?"

"These aren't just flashbangs, Hans" HT responded with a grin, "They're manually delivered, acoustically vigorous, SWAT Team Pre-entry, notification doohickies."

"Ah...uh...I see." Hans replied, laughing

"Well, that should be all then. Everyone ready?" HT asked as he looked at each member of his squad

Nodding their heads in agreement, in one voice they say, "Yes!"

"Outstanding!" HT bellowed while turning around to face the other groups in the room, "Slop, James, Bethany...My team's good to go."

"We are as well."

Standing directly in front of the gathered individuals, Slop Doggy draws his sword, "Bethany and I will open two portals which will take us to the destination. Once there, quickly proceed to the staging area before we begin the operation. Everyone, it's time to go!"

"Ok boys and girl, let's kick the tires and light the fires!" HT said while turning to glance at the three people he's about to lead into battle.

* * *

_0730 Hours_

Stepping out of the portal and onto the hot desert sand, all three teams swiftly make their way to the staging point. Other than the small mountain range located south of Kuroouja's fortress, the hostile landscape is literally an ocean of sand that stretches as far out as the eye can see, in nearly every direction. The two suns hanging directly over head just intensifies the nearly unbearable heat which each member must somehow tolerate until the current mission is successfully completed.

"Everyone, let's move now!" Slop commanded, "This freakin' heat is gonna end up killing us way before the enemy does, if we don't hurry."

"Agreed." James said, "Spryous, teleport our team along with HT's group to the predetermined location."

"You got it, chief."

Placing his two fingers against his forehead, Spryous begins concentrating as a single bead of sweat rolls down the side of his face, under his mask. With a sudden flash of blue light, eleven members of the Coalition vanish, instantly reappearing about two miles west of the target location. Spryous then teleports HT's small squad as close as the anti-teleport shielding will allow, forcing them to run the rest of the way.

As HT's small unit gets closer to their destination, they observe an enormous plume of fire exit from the tunnel's entrance.

"Just as I suspected, it is some type of exhaust port," HT said under heavy breathing, "James, how does our approach route look? Any tangos in our immediate vicinity?"

Looking through the scope of his weapon, James responds, "Negative HT, no threats in your area. You're clear all the way to the tunnel."

"Roger that Miles. We're about 1 klick from our objective."

"Copy that HT. Be advised, I have been observing the tunnel and have determined that the explosive discharge occurs in eight minute intervals."

"Ten four, James. Thanks for the info. Ok team, got some bad news for ya. We gotta hump a mile and a quarter in less than eight minutes. You guys up to the task?"

"Let's do it."

"I'm game."

"Yeah..."

"Ok, I guess we're good to go then."

Arriving at the exhaust tunnel several minutes later, HT's unit takes cover behind a group of boulders, 50 meters away.

"5...4...3...2...1...COVER!" HT vociferated, causing everyone to get as low to the ground as possible.

A large pillar of fire and smoke expelled diagonally from the mouth of the underground shaft, towards the south-west horizon, dissipating a few seconds later.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

Entering the tunnel, the team hastily rushes toward the opposite end of the long, narrow shaft, making certain not to touch the hot, charred walls of their make-shift passageway.

"HT to Miles, we've entered the tunnel, E.T.A. to complex...seven minutes."

"Ten-four, HT. We shall initiate our assault plan in approximately five minutes."

"Roger that, good luck."

"Godspeed, HT." James replied while moving the scope of his firearm toward the main facility, "I spot dozens of sentries positioned in artillery batteries across the wall of the fortress. They are our first priority. Spryous, they are your assignment. You will need to neutralize all the batteries that pose a threat, leaving even one operational could possibly decimate our forces before we can begin our attack."

"Got it James."

"There are also nearly a hundred ground infantry all around the perimeter of the fortress. Some are roving in pairs, others in groups of eight. Spryous, Daisuke, Miss Rai and myself shall spearhead the assault due to our long-range capabilities. Kashi, Ryosuke and Miss Christine, you three will be assigned to engage the roaming patrols and any enemies that happen to slip past us. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes."

"Got it."

"Understood."

"Yep."

"Gotcha."

"Of course."

As five minutes elapsed, James gives the order to initiate the attack. "Spryous, teleport us as close as you can and place us at a location that will not give away our position."

"Ok, got it." Spryous replied as he instantly teleports the group to the location specified by James.

Upon arrival, Spryous unleashes a horde of fire beasts, numbering in the dozens and telepathically instructing them to destroy each artillery battery. In a matter of seconds, the fire creatures, resembling large panthers, sweep through the fortress wall, incinerating everything in their path. Taken by surprise, Kuroouja's forces are temporarily thrown into a state of chaos until James' group is spotted by a roaming patrol squad. Immediately, nearly all the fortress soldiers including three quarters of the ones stationed inside, quickly scramble towards the Coalition's location. On instinct, Spryous plants his left foot behind him while bringing both of his arms to his left side. The small, open space between his cupped hands, begins to materialize a ball of flame, growing in size and intensity with each passing second.

"Ka...Me...Ha...Me...HAAAA!" Spryous shouts, bringing both hands forward and releasing an enormous beam of intense fire-energy which cuts a path straight through the incoming swarm of soldiers, vaporizing everything it touches.

The remaining enemy forces scatter in different directions, trying to surround James' group. A hail of particle energy beams erupt from Kuroouja's army, bombarding the desert landscape like a rainstorm. Using the weapon that HT had given him, James fires a barrage of large-caliber, high-velocity ammunition which explode on impact, taking down soldier after soldier. Daisuke releases his Bit-Beast, Drokami and instructs it to attack the enemy with its "Frozen Tundra Attack". On the other side, Rai's uncovered eye begins to sparkle with fire as her hands burst into flames. Raising both of her arms above her head, Rai creates a giant, fiery whirlwind which she promptly sends into the horde of armed lizard-warriors, like a frighteningly destructive tornado. Kashi, Christine and Ryosuke split up, engaging the enemy in close quarters combat. With his soul force double scythe, Kashi rips through a group of soldiers in a fraction of a second. Touching a pendant around her neck, Christine instantly transforms it into a large scythe, attacking a pair of roving patrols, oblivious to her presence. Not far away, Kyosuke locates several of Kuroouja's men coming in from the south. He materializes his long, white sword, Yin and deflects an incoming volley of energy gun-fire, sending it straight back at his attackers.

* * *

_Some minutes later._

HT and his crew finally arrive inside the bowels of the enemy stronghold with about a minute to spare. To their horror however, they find themselves trapped within a gargantuan mechanical generator that powers the fortress and its defensive weapons system. The layout of the room they are currently in, seems to suggest that they are in a type of colossal combustion chamber. Many large metallic pipes line the lower half of the structure, each emitting a sickening smell of gas and fumes, growing more stronger and intense as the seconds tick away. Above them, small tubes line the ceiling with flames flickering at each end. Quickly running out of time, they desperately try to locate some type of exit to escape from being cremated alive or suffer from asphyxiation.

"Guys...having...hard time...breathing..."

"Chikao, it's the accumulating gas that's causing it...just try to hang in there."

"HT, let's try to shoot our way out."

"No, any little spark would probably ignite the fumes."

"So, what the hell do we do?"

"Dammit I don't know, but we've got less than thirty seconds to figure it out!" HT screamed out in frustration, unable to find any semblance of a way out. As desperation sets in, HT makes a brash decision, "Hans...just make an exit for us. I don't care where, just punch through that damn thing right now!"

Being in a life or death situation, Hans purposely activates his "Devil Trigger" transformation and immediately attacks the generator's thick metallic wall with an unyielding flurry of powerful blows...to no effect. Their plight seems hopeless and they soon realize that there is no escaping their eventual death. HT regrets that he will not be able to avenge his wife's death nor will he be able to see Bethany again. Madjack and Chikao are at least content with the fact that they will face the end...together. Hans on the other hand, does not give up. Choosing not to die in such a way, he persevered onward, aggresively blitzing the side of the enormous machine with brute force. Eventually, it begins to weaken and bend, bulging outward until it literally tears. Hans continues the unrelenting onslaught, creating an opening large enough for his team to escape. With only seconds left, everyone hastily jumps through the large gap moments before the build-up of gaseous pressure from within the chamber ignites, erupting in a violent explosion.

Slowly shaking off the effects of near-asphyxia, HT looks around, highly concerned for the other members of his unit. "Madjack, you alright? Hans? Chikao?"

"Yeah, looks like we all made it, HT."

"Good. Looks like you saved us, Hans. Remind me to buy you a drink when we get back."

"Sure, but just to let you know, I'm only seventeen..."

"Oh, dammit. Well, I guess James is gonna have a drink for ya then."

"Guys," Chikao interrupted, "Don't mean to ruin a heart felt moment, but we're not out of the woods just yet. I think we're surrounded..."

**End of Chapter 4**

*****_Opposing Force_**  
**


	5. Chapter 5: Walk the Wire, Part 2

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_I would like to thank everyone for their comments/reviews. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker._

* * *

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Walk the Wire, Part 2**_

_Kuroouja's Desert Fortress_

Surrounded on all sides by Kuroouja's Reptilian army, the situation seems hopeless for HT, Hans, Madjack and Chikao. Using Madjack's telepathy to connect everyone's thoughts, the group secretly devises a plan of action against the heavily armed enemy soldiers.

"_Ok guys, I've got their positions and count a total of twenty eight of 'em. Twelve down here with us. Eight on the next level and eight more above them_."

"_How did you do that? I was still counting the ones down here_."

"_Having the skills of a high-level Grammaton Cleric does have its advantages, Hans_."

"_Well Mister Grammaton Cleric Sir, I hate to tell you this, but you missed one. He's directly above us, several levels up, pointing a really big cannon at our heads. If we move even a muscle...well you get the picture_."

"_Wow, how'd I miss that_?"

"_Well, having telepathic abilities, does have its advantages, HT_."

"_Heh, beautiful and wily, I like that. Chikao's a lucky guy_."

"..._you think I'm beautiful_?"

"_Yeah, I think you're absolutely ho..._"

"_Hey_!"

"_Oh, sorry Chikao. Anyway, I'll take care of the guys down here. Their geometric distribution makes it easy to predict the trajectories of their return-fire. I'll take them all down in about three seconds, but it might be a good idea to move away from my twenty as quick as you can cause these guys are gonna fire a whole bunch of green laser thingies at me_."

"_Your twenty_?"

"_His location_."

"_Oh. How do you know so much about these things, Hans_?"

"_I read books, Chikao_."

"_Oh_"

"_Chikao, you attack first. Get the guy directly above us with your blue-light-beam-blaster-from-your-fist-whatchamacallit...thing_."

"_HT, do you mean my Spirit Blast_?"

"_Isn't that what I said_?"

"..."

"_Madjack, I know you can move pretty damn quick, right_?"

"_Of course_."

"_Then I want you to grab the kid, hustle to the next level and neutralize everyone. We can't afford to have any of them alerting any other soldiers_."

"_Ok, you got it_."

"_Hans, do you think you can rush up to that third level_?"

"_Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem. Do you want me to injure, maim or kill them_?"

"_The latter...with extreme prejudice_."

"_Ok_."

"_Alright team, on three. One...two...three_, _move_"

Chikao quickly raises his fist above his head and shoots a large blue beam of light straight into the air. Before the enemy soldiers even have time to react, Madjack grabs her young companion and jumps up to the next floor with fangs and claws exposed. In the blink of an eye, she dispatches five reptilians, slashing and dismembering each one, causing them to fall down to the main floor in sequential order.

Using the falling bodies as a makeshift staircase, Hans swiftly jumps onto each dead soldier, making his way up towards the third floor. Several floors above him, another body tumbles its way down, a victim of Chikao's Spirit Blast. Using this last corpse as a springboard, Hans leaps up to the next level, decapitating the first pair of enemies he comes across with his "Man-Eater Sword". Taken aback by Hans' ruthlessness, the enemy soldiers momentarily pause, giving him an opportunity to dwindle their numbers even further. In an act of desperation, the remaining reptilians fire blindly, hoping to somehow prevent their deaths at the hands of this "lunatic". Although they actually manage to deal several hits on him, Hans' rapid regeneration abilitiy makes it a moot point as the wounds he receives heal instantaneously.

Down on the main floor, Kuroouja's twelve lizard soldiers that currently surround HT, regain their composure and immediately open fire on the lone Coalition member. A multitude of greenish-blue laser beams pummel HT's location, causing fog-like dust and debris to shoot upwards. Not long after the dust settles, they are astonished to find that their target is still alive, unscathed and...smiling with his Cleric weapons drawn. They hiss and screech, exposing their short fangs and forked tongues. On cue, they mercilessly fire their weapons at HT again. Like poetry in motion, he easily avoids every shot, using different evasive postures and predicting the trajectory of incoming fire while simultaneously utilizing optimum firing angles to engage his assailants with the utmost proficiency. Each incoming attack that HT evades, he takes down two enemies in response. Two at a time, they drop like flies until none remain. Incredibly, as HT had predicted, he manages to kill all twelve within three seconds. It is situations like these that the Clerics of the TetraGrammaton should not be taken lightly.

On the second level, Madjack quickly makes short work of her unfortunate foes. Reptilian body parts lay quivering in masses along the floor. The massacre causes her to go into a temporary state of euphoria which proves to be near fatal for the female cat-demon. The last surviving soldier gets the drop on her, placing the muzzle of his weapon against the back of her head. Before he is able to pull the trigger however, Chikao arrives just in time to intervene.

"I don't think so..."

Chikao's glowing fist discharges another blue beam of spirit energy, blasting the lizard's head clean clean off, its body dropping to the floor with an echoing thump. Madjack turns her head to look at her partner, her eyes gleaming with appreciation.

"Chikao, thank you."

"Don't mention it. Just try not to space out again, ok."

"Sure."

"Team, sitrep*." HT requested through his communication device

"Me and Chikao got 'em all."

"Hans here, they're all dead."

"Confirmed. All hostiles have been terminated. Ok team, form up on my twenty."

Regrouping on the main floor, HT pulls a small, gray device from the pocket of his tactical vest.

"What is that, HT?"

"Taiyououja gave it to me last night. It's a smaller version of the holographic projector he had during the meeting."

Pressing a red glowing button on the side of the gadget, a three dimensional holographic image appears, showing the entire floorplan of the fortress.

"From the looks of it, we're here in the sub-basement, ten floors below ground. Red, just like we planned, use this route to get to the third floor. Me and Hans will take this direction."

"Just how big is this freakin' fortress anyway?"

"Too damn big, Madjack." HT says while opening a duffle bag which he brought with him. He pulls out several brick-size items marked **C4**. "Along the way, I want you to plant these explosives at different locations. We need a diversion so I wanna cause as much chaos as possible. Remember, try to stay hidden and don't engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary. If the two of you get to the objective before us, do not breach the room until we arrive. I have an unusual feeling that it might take all of us to rescue the lad...uh, Princess safely. Everyone ready?"

"Yeah."

"I'm good."

"Yep."

"Alright team, let's move."

* * *

_Outside the fortress_

The assembled Coalition members seem to have gained the upper hand against Kuroouja's dwindling desert army, with only small pockets of resistance remaining. The ground below their feet suddenly begins to rumble and shake as something enormous comes into view on the horizon, just behind the fortress.

"James, what the hell is that?" Spryous asked as the calmness in his voice changes to concern

Peering through his long range scope, James responds, "I'm not certain. It seems to be some type of monstrous, mechanized battle wagon, heading directly toward us. Eight large cannons in the front and twelve smaller ones on top. The smaller cannons are manned by two enemy soldiers. Affixed to the sides of this machine are large rectangular...boxes. Within these boxes are dozens of conical-shaped, metallic objects. I'm uncertain as to what they are."

"Missiles...a shit load."

"That's not all. More soldiers are suddenly appearing behind it. I believe they are being teleported in somehow."

"How many?"

"So far, at least a hundred, but many more are on the way."

"Wonderful. Now what, James?"

"Let's fall back to our secondary rallying point...wait. There's some activity happening on the battle wagon...standby...EVERYONE, GET DOWN NOW!"

The two soldiers fire a volley of ionized energy beams at James' group, striking the area just beyond their location. The small Coalition force tries to regroup, but another volley of cannon fire hammers the same area again, effectively blocking their route of escape.

"They are trying to prevent us from retreating. Looks like they want to capture, not kill us."

"Want me to teleport us out of here?"

"No. If we leave, HT's team will be left unprotected. I don't see how they would be able to fight off an entire army."

"So what then?"

"We make sure they follow us to the rallying point. Slop Doggy will have a surprise waiting for them."

"But those explosions are blocking our way out."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. Just make sure everyone is ready to move out on my signal."

Laying in a prone position on the hot sand, James looks through the scope of his weapon once again and takes careful aim at one of the soldiers manning the cannon. Holding his breath, he gently depresses the trigger, firing a single bullet at his target. Before anyone could even count to two, the soldier's head explodes in a big puff of red mist. He then takes aim at the other reptilian and takes him down as well.

"Everyone, let's move." James calmly ordered, getting up from the ground

Without delay, the group races south-west toward the mountain range with the growing legion hot on their heels.

"Russel, we are heading toward the second location. The enemy is pursuing us, but be advised, they have an enormous battle wagon equipped with massive firepower."

"Ten four James, we'll be ready." Slop answered back

* * *

_Back inside the fortess  
_

Reaching the room supposedly occupied by their primary objective, HT and Hans wait impatiently for the other members of their squad. They drag the lifeless bodies of four reptilian soldiers who previously stood guard, to a nearby room so as not to alert attention.

"Red, sitrep. What's your twenty?"

"We're planting the last of the explosives, HT." answered Madjack, "We're on the second floor right now. We'll be heading upstairs as soon as we're done."

"Roger that, Red. We've neutralized all the sentries on this floor. Move your ass though, we're sitting ducks up here."

"Ok, be there soon."

"Hans, Get the breaching charge from the pouch on the back of my vest."

"Got it, HT."

Before they can say another word, Madjack and Chikao suddenly appear, which somewhat startles both HT and Hans.

"Damn, that was fast." HT whispered, "Ok, team we're going in dynamic. Stack up, I'll set the charges."

The element quietly lines up on the left side of the large doorway as HT plants the door breaching charge. He then positions himself away from the door.

"Madjack, what's it look like inside?"

Concentrating for several seconds, Madjack responds, "There are six lizard men, along with one other person...a female."

"I didn't expect that many guards to be in there...dammit...Hans, get the bang off my back."

Hans immediately removes a flashbang grenade from another pouch on the back of HT's vest and gives it to him. HT then hands over the remote trigger which is used to set off the explosives.

"As soon as the door blows open, I'll toss this grenade in to prep the room for entry. It will stun everyone inside for several seconds, giving us enough time to safely engage all threats. Terminate every hostile on sight. We go on three, keep your heads down. One...two...three, go."

Hans presses a button on the remote, triggering an explosion which blows the locked door inward, scattering large fragments and pieces of debris in all directions. HT pulls the flashbang's safety pin then throws the grenade deep inside the room.

HT shouts,"TEAM, FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Detonating in a mere one and a half seconds later, the sudden, extremely bright flash and ear-splitting sound created by the explosion, immediately causes flash blindness and deafness to everyone within the enclosed space. HT enters first, clearing the near left corner of the room before engaging the first two, incapacitated targets. Hans moves in next, maneuvering to the right side of the room and quickly dispatching the first enemy he sees. Madjack immediately follows, hastily clearing the doorway and moving left in front of HT's position. She sets her sights on a soldier standing in the far left corner and in short order, tears through her unlucky target without a second thought. Bringing up the rear is Chikao, who without delay, proceeds to the far right side where the last two enemies remain. Using a technique called the "Spirit Shotgun", he completely eradicates both soldiers with just a single shot. Scanning the entire room, the team visually verifies that the area is clear of threats and the hostage is unharmed.

"We're clear on the left."

"Right side's clear."

"Ok, all clear!", HT acknowledged, "Chikao, cover the doorway. Shoot anything that tries to come through."

"You got it."

Regaining her senses, the female hostage cries out, "No! Please...don't hurt me."

HT answers back, "Listen lady, if we wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. You need to get your ass in..."

Stepping between the two, Madjack interrupted, "We are here to rescue you, Princess. Please come with us."

"Why should I believe you? I don't even know who you people are."

"Well, like HT said, if we meant you any harm, we would have done so by now."

"...I...understand." The princess replied, "How do we get out of here?"

"Just follow us, we'll keep you safe."

"Thanks Madjack. Ok, team we're moving out. Let's hustle to the extraction point."

* * *

_Outside near the mountain range_

"James, they're catching up to us." Christine said, shouting quite loudly

"We are nearing our destination, Miss Christine. We have about another kilometer."

"But at this rate, they'll be onto us in no time."

"I see your point. Miss Rai, do something to slow the enemy's advance."

"Will do."

Stopping suddenly, Rai turns to face the enemy battalion approaching from behind. A small flame ignites on her forehead as large balls of flame pour forth from both hands. She spreads her arms outwards in a sweeping motion, creating an enormous wall of fire which temporarily block the enemy's forward progress. The heat from the wall is so intense that it turns the surrounding sand into glass. "That should slow them down for a bit." she says, running back towards her group.

"Slop Doggy, this is James. We are en route to the second location. E.T.A., five minutes. The enemy is quickly advancing toward us. We'll need to execute the plan fairly soon."

"Alright James, we'll be ready. How many of them are there?"

"At least a battalion."

"I see..."

Reaching their objective and spreading out in a wide attack formation, James' group prepares to engage the approaching army. Rai's wall of flame had given them the extra precious time needed to ready themselves for the looming battle ahead. James places the buttstock of his weapon firmly against his shoulder and moves the selector switch from "safe" to "full-auto". Spyous draws his flaming blood-red sword and dons his Pyris armor. Rai creates several large balls of fire which continuously encircle her body like a raging whirlwind. Daisuke again releases his bit-beast, Drokami and draws his light blue bey-blade of the same name. Kashi materializes his soul force into his signature weapon, the Double Scythe. Christine readies both her weapons, the large scythe and her silver chain. Kyosuke equips his long sword, Yin and forms a pair of white wings on his back, slightly above his shoulder blades.

"We shall use the same strategy as before," James said as he placed his finger on the curved trigger of his firearm, "Spryous and Miss Rai, the battle wagon is a major threat, it will be both of your responsibilities. If we hope to stand a chance against the enemy ground forces, we need to somehow divide them into smaller units. Miss Rai, use your pyrokinetic ablities to seperate the soldiers from one another. This should give us an advantage by only engaging them in lower numbers. Let's do the deed."

Without another word, the Coalition force led by James Miles, begins the offensive against the overwhelming desert army. An unrelenting shower of bullets, fire, ice and ionized particle beams erupt from both sides, devastating the sandy dunes of the desert landscape. Utilizing Miles' stratagem, James' group quickly takes the early advantage against the reptilian soldiers however, the heavy armor and immense firepower of the mechanized battle tank proves to be too much for Spryous and Rai to handle.

"James, this is Spryous. This damn battle wagon's armor is a pain in the ass! We just can't seem to penetrate it. Fire is NOT working, hope you got a miracle up your sleeve..."

"I copy Spryous. Hold it off for as long as you can. We have reinforcements coming in soon. Try to stand your ground."

"We'll do our best, James. Rai, watch my back. I'm gonna try something new!"

"Ok, I got it."

"Let's see if you can withstand this...FINAL FLAAAAASH!"

A colossal wave of intensely heated energy shoots forth from Spyrous' palms, fully engulfing the battle tank along with the surrounding area. The beam continues to travel skyward, through the atmosphere and out into space where it slowly dissipates. The magnitude of the attack is so great that a giant explosion ensues, creating a huge crater. Fire and smoke fill the air, obscuring most of the area from view.

"What in the world...was that?" James questioned, "Slop, I believe now is a good time to execute the plan."

"Roger, James. Ok everyone, it's time. Let's go!"

"Asumon, do your thing." Chloe commanded

Asumon under the direction of Chloe, warp digivolves into his ultimate form, Kurodramon. With Chloe and Tatsumiko riding on the back of the giant, purple dragon, it swiftly takes flight and soars toward the battlefield down below. Slop Doggy, Bethany, PrincessKye and Terry Wayne immediately take to the air as well, following the dragon through the mountain canyons. Razen, with both pistols drawn, teleports himself directly in the middle of hundreds of enemy infantry.

As the smoke clears, Spryous is shocked to see that, although the ground troops around the tank were completely exterminated, the machine itself remains intact, barely scathed. Exhausted, he drops to one knee then falls directly onto his back.

"Oh...you gotta...be F#$king kidding...me..."

Unable to move due to expending nearly all of his energy, Spryous helplessly watches as one of the hulking cannons on the front of the battle tank, slowly rotates his way.

"Don't you think that's a bit of overkill, ya bastards?"

Coming to a grinding halt, the muzzle of the cannon, which is so enormous that it could completely enshroud a grown man, begins to glow with energy build-up. Facing certain death, Spryous could do nothing but raise one fist and extend his middle finger in a final act of defiance. With a smug, he says only two words, "F#%K YOU!"

Unexpectedly, a large bolt of electricity strikes the cannon and travels down into the barrel, temporarily wrecking havoc with the battle tank's electrical system. Spryous glances up to see the inverted view of Rai staring down at him, bringing down her eyepatch to cover her partially exposed right eye.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"What're you doing, taking a nap?"

"Nah, I just felt like lying down for a bit to enjoy the scenery. You know, it's not everyday we get to spend some time at the beach."

"Well, ok. If your done though, we should probably finish these guys now."

"Yeah, maybe you're right."

As Rai extends her hand to help her teammate up from the ground, the battle tank recovers and continues its attack. Soldiers re-manning the smaller cannons atop the tank, send a curtain of fire in the direction of the two individuals. A thick wall of ice appears, barely deflecting the incoming cannonade. As if trying to protect his comrades, Drokami steps in between them and the war machine. With an echoing roar, he sends a large blanket of ice at the enemy, thoroughly freezing everything within a six hundred meter radius. Still alive, the partially frozen reptilian situated behind the six barreled cannon begins moving, but suddenly drops backward as part of its head explodes from the lower jaw upward.

"Nice shot James."

"Thank you Spryous."

James' group gathers around their fallen teammate as more than a hundred enemy infantry arrive, surrounding the exhausted members of Slop's Coalition. The battle tank breaks free from its icy confinement and moves menacingly toward them. They decide to make their final stand here, not willing to yield to inevitable defeat.

"Well, I guess this is it."

"It can't end like this."

"Don't worry yourselves, mates. It's far from over."

"That's right guys, I didn't hear the fat lady sing yet."

Looking behind them, they see Slop Doggy standing on top of a sand dune, holding his sword inverted in front of him. Unexpectedly, he releases his sword and it falls tip first toward the ground. It suddenly disappears into a ripple of air.

"Bankai"

Two long rows of enormous blades, numbering in the dozens, rise up from the ground through ripples in the air. Slop Doggy standing between the two rows, says three words.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi**"

With that, all the blades glow bright pink then shatters into millions of smaller blades, resembling cherry blossom petals. Slop sends these blades flying out into the battlefield, sweeping through the desert and cutting down soldier after soldier. Further west, Razen and Tatsumiko engage the ground forces in close quarters battle. With his pair of Colt pistols, he sends a hail of bullets through the air, mowing down multiple aggressors within seconds, alternatively switching from projectile to energy fire. Tatsumiko, using the demonic sword, the Sounga, cuts a large swath through the enemy with ruthless abandon. Attacking from above, Chloe, Kurodramon, Terry and PrincessKye assault the ground troops with no quarter asked and no quarter given. The tide of battle quickly turns in favor of the Coalition as the reptilian battalion's numbers diminsh, until none remain. All that's left is the seemingly indestructable battle tank which isn't affected by any form of energy attack. It proceeds to fire its eight main cannons along with a salvo of missiles in succession, with devastating results.

"How the hell do we destroy that damn thing?"

"I'm not sure, I've never come across anything like it before." Slop answered, "It's armor is unaffected by _Senbonzakura _and_ Getsuga Tensho._"

"Don't forget fire and ice too, Slop. I hit that thing with my _Final Flash_ at point blank range and it just laughed at me."

"Well, if energy doesn't work, how about brute force? Terry, get over here! We've got a slight problem with this freaking tank. We need you to pull a Superman thing."

"On my way, Slop."

Though Terry Wayne does not have super speed, he flies through the air so fast that he creates a sonic boom in his wake. In only a matter of seconds, he strikes the tank broadside, fists first, with enough force to level a large fortified bunker. The impact causes a massive shockwave that sends tons of sand, along with nearby Coalition members, hurling outward from the point of impact. Unfortunately, Terry's attack only proves to be futile, merely moving the tank laterally several feet.

"Man...", a slightly hazy TW said in frustration

"Oh, for cryin' out loud..."

"Slop Doggy, that vehicle is protected by something called Reactive Energy Absorption Armor." Bethany explains, hovering several feet above the ground, "The thick armor is made of a highly dense adamant alloy which has the ability to absorb all forms of energy directed at it, including kinetic. It then converts that energy to power its generator and weapons system."

"So in other words, during battle that thing is practically invincible with an unlimited source of power."

"That's correct."

"So how do we beat it?"

"By not attacking it directly."

"What do you mean, Bethany?"

"We bury it..."

Taking flight, Bethany moves directly above the battle tank with her right arm extended. Using her high-level telekinetic abilities, she causes the sand beneath the vehicle to move in a circular pattern, eventually forming a large whirlpool of sand. The battle tank begins to settle in the swirling torrent and tries desperately to prevent itself from sinking further, but to no avail. In no time at all, it becomes buried hundreds of feet underground.

* * *

_Fortress sub-basement_

HT detonates all the explosives that the team planted throughout the area, causing wide spread damage within the compound and preventing their pursuers from reaching them. They re-enter the same combustion chamber that they barely escaped from earlier and with great haste, they traverse the long, narrow shaft which leads outside.

"HT to Slop and James, we have the package...moving to extract, E.T.A...eight minutes."

"Ten four, HT. We'll be waiting. Once you get through the portal, we'll transport back to HQ."

"Roger, Slop."

After almost seven minutes, the team nears the exit of the tunnel, but unfortunately the Princess can no longer keep up with the rest of the team and falls on the ground, heavily fatigued and exhausted."

"Lady, you need to get up right now. In roughly a minute if we don't get outta here, we are toast! Do you understand? We're almost there."

"I...can't move...I can't run...anymore."

"HT, we're running out of time. We escaped death once, it'd suck if we end up dying now."

"I know, Chikao. Uh...Hans, pick her pick and carry her. We ain't got no more time left."

"Ok, I got her."

Picking her off the ground, the team continues toward the exit. Suddenly, they feel a rumbling beneath their feet and hear the blaring roar of an explosion heading their way.

"Oh, shit...too late."

"Screw that! I'm not dying here!" Chikao exclaimed

Turning around to face possible annihilation, Chikao points his fist down the long, dark corridor. A wall of flame comes rushing toward them as he unleashes the built up energy stored within the palm of his hand. The Spirit Blast he fires is so huge that it completely fills the tunnel, pushing the explosion all the way back to its source. Chikao drops to the floor unconscious, having used up all of his spirit energy.

"Damn, the kid actually did it. Madjack is he gonna be ok?"

"He'll be fine, HT. He used up all of his spirit energy and just needs some rest. He's never fired anything that big before."

"Ok, good." HT says while picking him up off the ground and putting him over his shoulder, "Let's move."

Exiting the tunnel, HT feels something different in the atmosphere. It would seem that Chikao's last attack destroyed the fortress generator, thereby shutting off power to the anti-teleportation shields. He immediately opens a portal back to their headquarters and sends his teammates along with the Princess, through the doorway first.

"Slop, James...this is HT. I've sent the Princess safely back to HQ. How copy over."

"Head back to base, HT. Great job. See you on the other side."

"Roger that. See you soon."

Before he can enter the rift, a humongous shadow suddenly appears, covering the entire area in darkness. HT looks up to see an extremely massive space battleship hovering directly above him. From the belly of the ship, attack craft numbering in the hundreds, swoop down and screech through the air, heading toward the Coalition force near the mountain range. Soldiers and mercenaries suddenly appear, teleporting in from the ship above and surrounding HT. He immediately closes the portal before the enemy has a chance to get through and invade their base.

* * *

"Everyone, this is HT! We have hostiles incoming. Fighter aircraft are heading your way. Evac now!"

"Roger HT. What's your status?"

"Surrounded. I closed the doorway before any of 'em could get through. There's a whole shitload down here with me, not sure if I could take them all...but I'm gonna try."

"Ten four HT, we're on our way."

"No! Get the hell outta here, all of you! We can't afford to lose the entire team. Just leave me be!"

"Sorry buddy, can't do that...see you in a sec." Razen said, quickly teleporting to HT's location

"Razen! Get back here, there's nothing we can do at the moment." Slop yelled into his microphone, "Bethany, we need to get everyone out of here. Bethany?..."

Slop Doggy looked around, but unfortunately Bethany had taken her leave once she heard HT's situation. With a sense of great urgency, she immediately teleported to his side, uncharacteristically disregarding the possible repercussions which her actions might bring about. Slop quickly opens a portal and orders everyone to go back, however some members refuse to leave.

"Sorry Slop, but I can't go anywhere, not when we still have people out there."

"Yeah, I agree."

"Me and Asumon are staying too. That's HT and Razen out there. We're not leaving until we know they're safe."

"Forgive me Slop, that's one order I can't follow. I guess we're all staying then."

"No, I'll be the one to stay. I want everyone else to go back now. We're currently outnumbered and outgunned."

"Russsel, arguing with them will do no good." James interrupted, "I suggest those with long range anti-air capabilities stay, while the others retreat."

"...Alright James, do it."

"Kashi, Miss Christine, Daisuke, PrincessKye and Tatsumiko, head back to headquarters. The rest of us will remain here. Defend our home and protect the Princess if the enemy has somehow discovered our location."

Without another word, they enter the portal and disappear from sight. Slop quickly closes the doorway then looks in the direction of the fortress. He immediately recognizes the battleship that has parked itself above HT's location.

"That's Dasan Teki's heavy battlecruiser, the Dreadnought. His ship was cloaked here the whole time? Why, what's he after?"

"Dasan Teki? The mercenary responsible for the death of HT's wife?

"Yep, the same one."

"Does HT know this?"

"I doubt it."

"Shall we inform him?"

"Maybe if we survive this...Dasan's Death Gliders are here. Are you ready, James?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Russel. Godspeed."

"Yeah, you too. Ok everyone this is it. Let's do this."

Looking up, they see a swarm of fighter craft filling the sky overhead, managing to block out most of the sunlight. The members with the ability to fly, take to the air while those that can not, attack from the ground. Slop Doggy dons his Hollow mask and fires multiple Ceros, downing many aircraft at once. Terry mows through a squadron of fighters, shooting concussive force blasts from both hands. Chloe orders Kurodramon to attack using both _Shadow Wing Blade_ and _Blood Red Destroyer_. James, Spryous and Rai defend from below while simultaneously evading continuous strafing runs by the enemy.

* * *

Surrounded, HT is ordered to get on his knees as every enemy weapon is focused on him, but yet he refuses to comply. At that moment, Razen teleports in, appearing behind his comrade.

"Hey, HT."

"Razen...what the hell are you doing here?"

"No time buddy, let's kick some ass."

"...Heh, sure thing."

Standing back to back with their pistols drawn, HT and Razen discharge a hailstorm of bullets in a three hundred sixty degree sweeping arc. Unfortuntely, no matter how many of the enemy they manage to dispatch, many more takes their place in an unending cycle. However, not willing to succumb to the overwhelming force, HT and Razen continue their unrelenting assault.

"Damn, these guys are like cockroaches."

"Yeah, just like those damn bugs we seem to always be fighting."

"I don't see how we're gonna get outta this one."

"Well, at least we'll die fighting."

"There's no need for valiant warriors such as yourselves to lose your lives today." a woman's voice said

From above, a ceaseless bombardment of lightning bolts strike the ground, eradicating waves of soldiers and mercenaries alike, tipping the scale in favor of the Coalition. HT gazes up to see that Bethany, remaining aloft overhead, is the person assisting them from the air. Surprisingly, the enemy decides to fall back and retreat to the battlecruiser before they lose anymore personnel. Visually confirming that all threats are no longer present, Bethany floats down, gently landing beside her former apprentice.

"HT, Razen, have you sustained any injuries."

"Amazingly, no. Other than a few scrapes and grazes, we seem to be ok."

"I'm relieved, though we must hurry. I'll open a doorway. Contact Slop Doggy."

"Ok. HT to Slop, return to HQ. Me, Bethany and Razen are safe and heading back now."

"Roger, HT. We're going to break engagement and transport back. See you guys there."

"Ten Four."

Bethany quickly creates a rift and sends Razen through first. HT stops to look up at the spaceship, curious as to the identity of this new threat.

"Bethany, that ship. Who are they?"

"HT, we don't have time. We must leave now."

"Dammit, just tell me!"

"...it's...Dasan Teki's ship."

"WHAT? When were you planning on telling me this, after we got back?"

"Please HT, we really need to go."

"No Bethany, you go back. I'm going after him! I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch and the rest of those bastards!", HT screamed as he ran further away from Bethany's portal

"HT!"

Without warning, an extremely large, burly figure teleports behind Bethany, immediately striking her on the back of her neck with a large Stun Club. She falls down unconscious as he stands menacingly over her comatose body. HT looks back, his eyes widen to discover Bethany laying on the ground and the identity of her attacker.

"DASAAAAAN!"

"Ha, you again. I thought I killed you already. You're a tough little bug, aren't you."

Pointing both of his pistols at the mercenary, HT shouts, "I'm gonna kill you! DIE, YOU MOTHER F..."

"Maybe I'll play with you next time. I've got what I came for, this woman is mine now."

"Wha?"

In a flash of light, both Dasan Teki and Bethany disappear. The engines of the battlecruiser ignite causing large tremors to violently shake the entire area. In a futile attempt to shoot them down, HT opens fire at the Dreadnought with both guns blazing. He'd have better luck killing an elephant with a rubber knife. Dasan's ship initiates a hyperspace fold, instantly disappearing from sight. Horrified, HT drops to the ground on his knees and cries out as he continues firing at nothing but the empty sky.

"DAMMIT!...BETHANY!"

**End of Chapter 5**

* Situation Report

** Vibrant display of one thousand cherry blossoms**  
**


	6. Chapter 6: Walk the Wire, Finale

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany, Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) and other minor characters are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_I would like to thank everyone for their comments/reviews. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker._

* * *

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Walk the Wire, Finale**_

_Two days ago_

The morning sunlight begins to creep its way through the broken clouds above the Coalition's home and current base of operations. The light slowly brightens a room in the upper floor of the building, where a male figure sits alone in a darkened corner, away from the elevating illumination. Empty glass bottles previously filled with different types of alcoholic beverages, lay scattered all around the room. He's been seated in the same location, drinking nonstop since returning from the rescue operation the previous day. Although his team managed to complete their objective, it came at a high price, especially for the former SWAT officer. Bethany, his Authorian mentor and the woman he's fallen in love with, was taken by the same person who previously took away everything that meant the world to him, his late wife Lilinette. He's already been over-burdened by the guilt of not being able to rescue his wife, now he blames himself solely for Bethany's abduction as well. His obsessive need for revenge clouded his judgment, resulting in another person he deeply cares for, to be taken from him.

No longer wanting to feel anymore emotions like self pity and despair, he reaches for a device laying on top of his desk. This instrument, used by Librian citizens to inject the emotion-suppressing drug into their bodies, hasn't been used by HT in quite a while. He takes a vial of Prozium from his gun belt and inserts it into the top of injection device. Placing it against his neck just below his jaw, he can feel the cold, sharp needle touching his skin. With the press of a button, the drug is immediately injected into his blood stream, the effects of which happen almost instantaneously. All forms of emotions completely disappear, leaving his face in a blank state. Standing up from the leather arm chair, he finally decides to take action instead of drowning himself with bottles of alcohol. He opens his weapons vault, choosing multiple items including armor and explosives. He then unsheathes the special short sword given to him by Bethany, concentrating on her whereabouts. The sword begins to gleam with a brilliant green light then suddenly in his mind, a quick flash showing him her exact location. Without wasting anymore time, HT opens a rift and enters, neither looking back nor feeling the need to inform his friends what he plans on doing. With a slight crackle, the doorway disappears, leaving his room empty once again.

"HT hasn't left his room since we got back."

"Has he said anything to anyone, James?"

"I don't believe so."

"I'm pretty sure he's taking things pretty hard. Knowing him, he's probably blaming himself for everything that's happened."

"Well, nobody really knows for sure what happened, except him."

"True, however with Bethany's capture, Kuroouja is a step closer to conquering the multiverse. If he were to learn the secrets of Authorian, he would be near invincible. Nothing would be able to stand in his way. We need to find a way to rescue her. Other than being a highly valuable ally, she is also a good friend."

"But, Slop we don't even know where they have taken her."

"I'll contact Taiyououja and Ranpuouja and see if they have any leads on Dasan Teki and Bethany. We need to act fast though, if he's able to extract the information that Kuroouja needs, then..."

"Slop...HT's gone!" Chloe said, running into the room trying to catch her breath

"Maybe he's just roaming the building, trying to get his mind off of things."

"No, he isn't here. I asked everyone if they've seen him. Everyone said no. They haven't seen him since we got back. I just wanted to bring him some food and stuff, but when I went upstairs, all I found was an empty room that reeked of alcohol and empty bottles everywhere."

"I guess he's really lost it this time, Slop. I know he had all this guilt about his wife. Now that this mercenary has taken Bethany, who knows what's going through his head."

"I'm not sure what to think at the moment, Razen."

"Uh...I also found that gun safe thing of his...he left it open..."

"You don't think...he's gonna try to mount a rescue by himself?"

"It's quite possible, I really wouldn't doubt it."

"But why wouldn't he ask us for help, James?"

"I'm uncertain Chloe. More than likely, he doesn't want to feel responsible if any of us were to be injured or killed. He probably thinks that due to his mistake, it is his sole responsibility to rectify the situation."

"But that's just suicide. What the hell is he thinking, going up against that many people?"

"Spryous, that's the thing, he isn't thinking. He's running on pure emotions. It isn't a mystery how he feels about Bethany, practically everyone knows about it."

"So what do we do then? We can't just stand around and do nothing."

"Yeah, I agree with Momentai."

"Everyone, I know how you feel, but we don't know his plans or especially, his destination."

"That might not be necessarily true, James. At least with the destination part."

"What do you mean, Russ...uh...Slop?"

"Well, I've never tried it before, but I think I might be able to track him."

"How exactly?"

"Every Authorian user leaves a type of signature, an aura if you will. People who have truly mastered it, can follow other Authorians by tracking his or her specific signature, no matter how faint it is. Bethany was particularly adept at it, even able to find traces that were weeks old."

"So that means you will be able to locate him?"

"Like I said, I've never tried it before so I couldn't really say. However, it's worth a shot. James, what do you think? We've got another rescue mission...how should we go about this?"

"Honestly, without proper intelligence, we would be attempting an extremely high-risk mission with a low probability of success."

"I'll see how much intel I can gather from my sources so we can come up with a plan. Which members should we gather for this mission?"

"We need to keep our infiltration unit as small as practical. We go in, rescue HT and Bethany then exfiltrate quickly and quietly, without being discovered by the enemy. With stealth being the main concern here, I would suggest we limit our team to a personnel of only six individuals with abilities related to the specific operation at hand."

"Agreed...Spryous, Razen, Kyosuke and Kashi. You four will be part of the rescue team."

"Hey, what about me and Chloe?"

"Momentai. Again, I need you to stay behind and..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know...defend our home in case of invasion blah, blah, blah." interrupted Momentai, clearly irate.

"Actually, I was going to say that I need you, Chloe, Madjack, Hans, TW, PrincessKye, Katami and Silver-chan as a backup team in case things go south for us."

"Oh...sorry Slop. I didn't..."

"Don't worry about it, Momentai." Slop said, giving her a small device with a miniature screen located on its face, "This is a specialized communication distress unit. If we're in any kind of trouble, I will contact you and it will pinpoint our exact location. PrincessKye is a celestial-scale teleporter, so she should be able to get your group to us if need be. After we figure out HT's destination, we'll formulate a plan. All of us will travel to Lexostral to bring the Princess home and we'll then organize the staging area for the rescue mission there. Now, the remaining members will stay behind to guard things here. Does everyone understand?"

The assembled group nod their heads in agreement as Slop Doggy quietly disappears down the long, narrow hallway adjacent to the occupied room which they have gathered in.

"Chloe, do you think Slop is upset at me?" Momentai asked whispering

"No, of course not. I think he might be upset at the fact that HT just took off without telling us." answered Chloe, her voice a little louder than she wanted, "I know I'm kinda pissed. I thought we were all suppose to be friends. Why the hell did he just bail on us like that?"

"I wouldn't get too upset about it," James said, placing his hand on Chloe's shoulder, "We do not know what he is going through at the moment, what inner...demons he's trying to conquer. Don't get me wrong though, I don't feel he handled the situation properly and I am going to speak with him about it later."

"Yeah I know, but still..."

* * *

_Dasan's Dreadnought_

Secretly entering a cargo hold in the lower deck of the battlecruiser, HT activates the optical camouflage armor, rendering himself virtually invisible to the naked eye. He carefully ascends the metal staircase leading to the catwalk above, reaching a type of computer access terminal. However, the alien characters pictured on the screen is unfamiliar to him and he randomly presses different buttons, trying to pull up floor schematics for the enormous vessel. Frustrated, he slams his fist into the terminal, damaging the video display and signaling a ship-wide alarm.

"Shit! Oh, that was smart, you dumbass." HT says aloud to nobody in particular

Thinking quickly, he grabs one of the large metal cylinders lined along the catwalk and leans it against the damaged unit then takes cover behind a metallic storage crate. Moments later, several groups of fully armed mercenaries enter the cargo hold, searching the area for the cause of the warning alert. They locate the access terminal, finding the cylinder pitched over the monitor. Remaining cloaked, HT watches from the shadows as the mercenaries report in, determining the cause of the disturbance.

"Wow, that actually worked?" HT thought to himself

He quietly follows one of the mercenaries who is unaware of his presence, to the upper levels. Entering what seems to be an empty crew's quarters, HT deactivates his cloaking device and quickly grabs him by the neck, placing the muzzle of his suppressed weapon against the side of the enemy's head.

"Where are they keeping the woman?"

"I do not know what you are talking about, human."

"Really?" HT replied, moving his firearm from the mercenary's head to his knee, "Maybe this will refresh your memory, although they'll be calling you the one-legged man when I'm done."

"There is no need for that. She's either confined in the brig, two levels below or being interrogated in the catechization chamber, four levels above."

"Has she been tortured or harmed in anyway?"

"I do not know, but more than likely she has."

HT forcefully slams the mercenary's head hard into a nearby wall, knocking him unconscious. He then reactivates the cloak, proceeds out of the room and carefully makes his way to the brig. Several levels above, Dasan continues his grueling interrogation of Bethany, binding her down to a silvery contraption which prevents both of her arms and legs from moving. Her body slowly begins to suffer from heat stroke due to the prolonged exposure from the intense heat coming from the lighting above.

"I'll bet you'd really like some water now. Just tell me where that damn book is and all of this will be over, I promise to kill you quickly."

"Go...to hell...Dasan...just.."

"Hmph, defiant 'til the end huh? You should realize by now that Kuroouja **is** going to conquer everything, there is no stopping that. Once he has the secrets to Authorian, he will be even more invincible and his vast armada will spread throughout the multiverse and lay waste to everything that stands in his way. It'll be genocide. Why don't you just stop being so rebellious, in the end it's not going to matter anyways. We're on our way to Auruboth and I'm giving you to Kuroouja. He has other means to get what he wants, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Aur...Auruboth? Impossible...in order for me...to enter Auruboth...I must reform with my other...half, but...you ki...killed her. There is no way for me to...to get back there..."

"Ha, are you really that naive to think there's only one way to get into Auruboth? Things change, thanks to Kuroouja."

"How is that...possible?"

"It's not that difficult really, given the exact coordinates, one could..."

He is suddenly interrupted over the com by one of his men, "Sir, we've got an intruder...level three, main brig. We got eleven down, four injured."

"Have you identified the intruder?"

"Negative sir. He seems to have some form of cloaking device. We are trying to...argh!"

Turning his head to question Bethany, Dasan asked, "Is this person a friend of yours, trying to rescue you maybe? More than likely it's that irritating little human. Well, no matter. I'm going to hunt 'em down and feed him to my pets."

Leaving the chamber, Dasan orders his men to stand guard and watch over Bethany. Minutes later, a series of explosions rock the center of the ship causing chaos and mayhem to spread within. From inside the chamber, the mercenaries guarding Bethany, hear weapons fire beyond the closed door then the loud sound of two heavy bodies hitting the floor.

"It's the intruder! Activate your PDS*...shoot to kill!"

A wall of reddish energy materializes in front of each mercenary, completely protecting their frontal region from attack. Bringing their weapons to bear, they immediately open fire when the door suddenly slides open. After nearly half a minute of constant shooting, they cease fire and are greeted by nothing more than silence.

"Did we kill him?"

"We must have, nothing could have survived tha...hurgh."

"He's somewhere in the room! OPEN FIRE! Kill hi...argh"

Two more mercenaries drop to the floor, both shot in the back of the head. It would seem that their energy shields only protects the front half of their bodies, leaving their rear open to attack.

"Full defensive attack formation!"

The remaining soldiers-for-hire stand in a circular arrangement, forming a 360 degree protective firing arc. "Open fire!" one of the mercenaries screamed. The room is bombarded by a multitude of plasma energy blasts, ravaging nearly everything within the room. Unfortunately for the mercenaries, their formation leaves their backs wide open if an enemy were to stand directly in the center of the circle. HT does exactly that, jumping down from the rafters above, away from enemy fire. Upon landing, he releases both pistols from the specially made constructs concealed within both sleeves of his jacket, causing them to fall smoothly into the palms of his hands. Without hesitation, HT begins firing in all directions while keeping his focus fixated on the ground in front of him. His movements are smooth and rapid, shooting behind his back, over his head and crossing his arms in an unending cycle of automatic weapons fire until every soldier drops dead on the floor. As HT deactivates his optical camouflage, the smoke emanating from the hot muzzles of his weapons, slowly dissipates into the air. He promptly turns around when he hears the voice of the woman he came all this way to rescue, the same person he's willing to risk his life for time after time.

"You...came..."

"Of course I did. There's no way in hell I'd just leave you like this."

"Are you...here with the rest...of the Coalition?"

"No, Darlin', it's just me."

"HT..."

"Shush" HT says, pulling out a canteen full of water from the inside pocket of his vest, "Here, drink this."

Taking several gulps, she graciously replies, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Bethany. Now, let's get you outta this damn contraption."

* * *

_Lexostral_

The extraordinarily, magnificent capital city of the planet is nothing any of the Coalition members have ever witnessed. Massive, towering skyscrapers litter the vast skyline, dwarfing even the tallest buildings on Earth. Millions of flying transportation vehicles move about the city in organized fashion, like thousands of highways in the sky. At the centermost point of this glorious metropolitan, stands Sovereignty Tower, a building so massive that the very top reaches the middle stratosphere of the planet. It's a feat of engineering which can not be explained by even the smartest men in this galaxy. Slop Doggy and several members of the Coalition gather in the monumental ballroom, awaiting the arrival of the Lexostralian King. They gaze in wonder at the amazing architecture, including the walls that resemble large waterfalls, adorned with hundreds of beautiful, decorative ornaments. The extravagant furnishings that seem to be made of solid water, were also a sight to behold.

"Slop, do you see all of this?"

"Yeah, Chloe. Pretty amazing, isn't it. I'm still trying to figure out what the walls and chairs are made of."

"Of all the places we've been, out of all the places we've lived, I believe that this planet is the most mind-boggling. We have been here for several hours, traveled nearly half way through the city and I have yet to see the actual surface of this planet." James remarked, "All these ridiculously towering buildings just puts me in a state of vertigo. Also, all these...flying machines reminds me of ants marching in hundreds of rows. I am truly not very comfortable here."

"Maybe you're just a little over dramatic, James" Momentai said, laughing, "Or just waaay too stiff."

"Am I really...stiff?" James asked, somewhat troubled

"Nah, I'm just messin' with you." replying with a smile

"Quiet now, they're coming." Slop said in a low whisper

From the high balcony that seems to be floating above the waterfall wall, the King and his daughter emerge. As a show of respect, Slop Doggy drops to one knee and bows with reverence. The rest of the Coalition quickly follow suit as well as the King's subjects who are in attendance. With a wave of his hand, those kneeling down below, rise from the ground and look up towards the elegant veranda.

"Sir Slop Doggy, please step forward."

"Your Highness."

"I am forever in your debt for saving my daughter from the clutches of that abhorrent degenerate, Kuroouja and returning her home safely."

"Though I appreciate your gratitude, my Coalition and I will always be in service to those that oppose Kuroouja. As his military forces grow in size, our need for strong, powerful allies also grows in earnest to combat such an overwhelming threat."

"The unexpected invasion of my planet and the abduction of my daughter was especially heinous, it was clearly an act of war. I have decided that my kingdom will support your cause. From this day forward, Lexostral shall stand with you and your Coalition against the menace of Kuroouja and his armies."

Bowing in appreciation, Slop replied, "Your consideration is greatly appreciated, your highness."

"Now, please stay for our festivities, your lot will be our honored guests."

"Thank you, we are extremely grateful for your hospitality, however we have urgent matters that need to be attended to immediately. Our friend and colleague, HT, one of the men directly responsible for the Princess' rescue, has taken it upon himself to rescue another comrade of ours, Queen Bethany of Lauterania."

"Bethany of Lauterania? What has happened to her?"

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, both of our planets have been united by treaty for many moon cycles. Her family has been close compatriots of ours for nearly as long."

"Bethany was abducted during your daughter's rescue by a mercenary in service to Kuroouja. I believe they are looking for the secrets to the ancient art of Authorian."

"Authorian?"

"Have you heard about it?"

"Yes. Long ago, a...member of our royal family became an Authorian practitioner, but we have not heard from him for many, many cycles. From my knowledge, he was a former pupil of Bethany."

"A former pupil...from long ago?" Slop thought to himself, "He has got to be Bethany's first student. Hmmm, I wonder who he is and why she never told me about him. Also, how did Dasan know about the rescue attempt? He was definitely laying in wait for her. Could there be a mole or something, giving Dasan intel on our activites?"

"Slop Doggy, you say that your friend helped rescue my daughter and is now trying to rescue Bethany of Lauterania?"

"Yes, that's correct. He is attempting to save her by himself. He didn't ask for our help and left without our knowledge. Unfortunately, he faces an enemy force which I believe he can not handle on his own."

"It would be dishonorable for me not offer our assistance in your time of need, especially when two of Lexostral's allies risked their lives to free my daughter and are now in dire circumstances. Whatever help your group requires, please do not hesitate to ask."

"We are extremely grateful for your kind offer, your majesty. Please pardon my urgency, but at the moment, we could use the talents of a high-level tracker. I was told that you have such a person in your employ. I was unable to locate HT's destination and I believe time is running short for them."

"I see. I shall summon him forthwith, Sir Slop Doggy."

"Thank you very much. I also have...another request."

"Go on."

"I have been continuously building a...space vessel to counteract the threat of Kuroouja's space-faring military army. To be more specific, my vessel is a Super Star Destroyer. Although nearly complete, there are several things which need to be enhanced and augmented in order to be able to stand against them."

Looking at each other in bewilderment, the other Coalition members question one another with regards to another surprising revelation from the often times mysterious Slop Doggy.

"Momentai, Chloe, did you two know about this?" James questioned with a whisper

"Nope."

"Me neither."

"What about you, Spryous?"

"No, not a clue."

"Razen?"

"Nah, this is all new to me too, James."

"I wonder what other secrets Slop Doggy has yet to disclose to us."

* * *

_The Dreadnought_

"HT, this dampening collar placed around my neck is preventing me from using any of my abilities, even Authorian."

"How do we get it off?"

"I honestly do not know."

"Damn. I can't shoot it, not with my weapons. The ammunition they discharge, explode on impact. There's gotta be another way..."

More mercenaries appear, chasing the two down the narrow corridors of the ship. HT tosses two thermite grenades at the troops advancing toward them. The blast incinerates the group as well as most of the nearby bulkheads. The blaring red warning alarm sounds and lights every deck of the massive ship, causing every crew member to man their battle stations. Reaching the main cargo hold where HT originally arrived, he proceeds to plant C4 explosives at each entrance of the storage area then prepares to open a rift back to Coalition HQ. Meanwhile up in the main bridge, a furious Dasan Teki decides to take care of the situation personally after killing his second in command.

"Daedenx, you are now the XO. Fail me and your fate will be the same as your predecessor."

"Yes sir."

"Where are they now?"

"They have entered the cargo hold, sir. They have nowhere else to go."

"How long until we reach Auruboth?"

"Two hours, forty five minutes at our current speed and heading."

"Good. That will give me enough time to kill that human insect and recapture the Authorian woman. From the information I was given, that nuisance also has the abilities of Authorian. Let's make sure he doesn't have the time to use it. Release the Hell Hounds...all of them."

"Releasing them now sir."

On each level of the ship, hundreds of doors, one and a half meters in height, open slowly, casting loose large black vampiric canines with crimson-colored eyes and sizable sharp fangs. As if on cue, every hell hound on board the ship simultaneously howls and shrieks, giving off an enormous sound wave that pierces through the entire vessel. HT is unable to concentrate, finding it extremely difficult to locate the "seam" in which to make the cut, due to the high-pitched screams produced by the demonic creatures.

"What the hell is that? It's worse than the noise given off by those damn bugs I always seem to encounter."

"I believe they are hell hounds. Beasts that are both demon and vampire in nature. From the sound of it, there's probably hundreds of them."

"Oh, wonderful. If the damn mercenaries weren't enough, now we're being chased by Bram Stoker's flea bags."

"We have to remove this collar if we plan on surviving this."

"Yeah I know, but I've checked the damn thing several times. There doesn't seem to be any type of locking release mechanism, I'm not sure how I can get this off of you."

"HT, they're coming."

"Damn...Bethany, get down!"

As soon as the first group of mercenaries enter the cargo area, HT detonates all of the explosives, instantly killing dozens of soldiers. The explosions set off a chain reaction, blowing up the gas canisters located on the upper level catwalks, causing major structural damage and obliterating even more mercenaries in short order. Realizing their current method of trying to apprehend the escaped prisoner is futile, the soldiers begin teleporting inside, completely surrounding both HT and Bethany.

"Give us the woman, human and we promise to kill you quickly."

"I think I've got a better idea. Bethany...don't move..."

Before they even have time to blink, HT dispatches two mercenaries with one of his pistols. The other soldiers open fire without hesitation as HT draws the wakizashi from the rear of his gun belt. He dodges the first several shots, waiting patiently for one with the proper trajectory. With incredible reflexes, HT deflects two incoming plasma blasts with his sword, sending them directly at Bethany. She closes her eyes for but a moment and hears the dampening collar struck twice by the pair of diverted energy blasts. With a loud electrical crackle, the collar breaks open and falls harmlessly on the ground next to Bethany's feet. HT continues engaging the assailants on the right side while Bethany moves left and exterminates every enemy with powerful strikes of lightning bolts. Sadly for these mercenaries, this battle is over before it has barely begun.

"HT, that seems to be all of them. Let's go, I'll open a rift."

"Ok, I'll cover you..." HT says while turning around, "Bethany! Behind you!"

More mercenaries teleport in, but HT is unable to engage the new threats due to Bethany being in his line of fire. She turns around to find Dasan Teki standing behind her once again, with stun club in hand. Unfortunately for him however, Bethany isn't taken by surprise this time. Using her telekinetic ability, she begins crushing Dasan's helmet into his skull, causing him excruciating pain. Beads of green blood pour profusely from the side of his head as the helmet shrinks even further.

"Arghhh...ki...kill her...now."

To HT's horror, several soldiers raise their weapons and immediately discharge multiple energy blasts at a preoccupied Bethany. Memories of a long past incident flash through HT's mind, remembering a certain moment as if it just happened yesterday. He sees his wife laying in his arms as her life slowly ticked away. All of that happened because he failed to act, because he failed to protect her. Not this time, this time it will be different. This time he will not hesitate to protect a person he loves. Hastily, he streaks across the empty space between him and Bethany's location, jumping in front of the incoming enemy attack. He is struck time and again, over and over, until his protective vest is ripped to shreds. When it's all over, HT slowly drops to his knees, blood pouring forth from his mouth as well as from the many wounds he sustained from the merciless assault. He smiles with a look of jubilation before collapsing on the floor, nearly unconscious. He could barely hear the voice of the woman screaming his name, the same woman he was willing to give his life for.

"HT! No!"

Letting her emotions get the best of her, Bethany unleashes an enormous blast of blue energy from her body, engulfing nearly everything around her. The entire group of mercenaries in the area are vaporized except for Dasan Teki, who manages to teleport away seconds before the outburst. She takes HT, placing his head against her chest and holding him firmly in both arms as the seemingly endless horde of hell hounds make their appearance, growling and screeching with salivating fangs exposed. The devilish beasts quickly flood the cargo hold, utterly encircling the two with no means of escape. Many seconds pass before the hounds abruptly attack en masse. Bethany unleashes a hail of lightning strikes, decimating the creatures by the dozen. No matter how many of the hounds she manages to eliminate, three more takes its place in a never-ending wave of death and decay. She holds the motionless HT as tight as she possibly could, awaiting their apparent fate. Just then, a sudden fusillade of fire, bullets and black energy bombards the compartment, slaughtering the creatures in substantial numbers. The unforeseen arrival of Slop Doggy, James, Spryous, Razen, Kashi and Kyosuke give hope to when all seemed lost. As the rest of the Coalition battles the hounds, Slop moves over to Bethany and the severely injured HT.

"Bethany, how's HT?"

"I'm not certain. He's badly wounded. We need to get him immediate medical attention."

"Ok, I hear ya. I'll make the cut to open a rift."

"Slop!" Spryous yelled, "These things just keep coming!"

"He's correct Russel, there doesn't seem to be any end to these creatures." James concurred

Razen agreed as well, "Yeah, I'm using everything in my repertoire, but nothing seems to make a difference. Fucking things are never-ending!"

"Can you guys hold 'em back until I get us outta here?"

"We'll try, but no guarantees. They're starting to overwhelm us."

"Shit!"

"They're called hell hounds," explained Bethany, "They are vampiric in nature and will not stop until their prey is devoured. Not much else can stop them, save sunlight."

"Well, if they're practically vampires, I've got something for 'em...guys, get back here now!"

"But Slop..."

"I said now dammit! Bethany, open a portal and get everyone back to safety. I'll try to buy you some time."

Regrouping around HT and Bethany, the group forms a defensive formation as Slop Doggy steps forward, toward the approaching horde of evil pooches.

"Nanomachine Crusnik 00, power output, forty percent...activate."

With that verbal command, Slop Doggy transforms into a vampire-type being. His teeth suddenly grows into fangs and his fingernails change to long, sharp claws. His skin turns pale while his lips become dark blue and his eyes turn blood red in color. Out of the blue, he manifests a gigantic sword in the shape of a long trapezoid, created by transmuting his own blood into a crystallized form. All the blood from the dead hell hounds begins to draw itself toward Slop, directly absorbing every single drop into his body. He launches himself towards the hounds, swinging his weapon while simultaneously generating bio-electric blasts which incinerates everything it touches. As Bethany begins opening a rift, Kashi looks down at HT as he lies semi-conscious on the floor. A white glowing light forms around HT's entire body and Kashi realizes what must be done. With a heavy heart, he slowly raises his giant scythe above his head.

"**He's about to die. Friend or not, you know what to do**." an inner voice in the back of Kashi's head says

"HT...I'm truly sorry I have to do this." Kashi states with regret

He immediately swings the scythe down vertically, toward his fallen comrade. His other teammates are startled to see Kashi about to strike HT with a fatal blow, but are unable to do anything about it. Bethany turns her head in shock at the last second and screams out in desperation.

"Kashi...no, please don't do it!"

As the scythe's blade drops on top of him, HT grins as his vision darkens until everything becomes pitch-black. He closes his eyes and thinks to himself, "Lilinette, I'm coming...wait for me..."

* * *

_Present Day_

Waking up suddenly, HT grabs his bandage-covered abdomen as slight pain shoots through his body. Groggily, he looks around slowly and finds a blonde haired woman laying next to him. She stares at him with her beautiful grayish-blue eyes and smiles. He can smell the wonderful scent of her hair, giving him an acute ecstatic feeling.

"Bethany..."

"Hi. Good morning. How are you feeling?"

"Uh, like crap, but I guess it's better than being dead."

"Yes, definitely. I'm very happy that you're alright. I was extremely worried."

"Yeah, thanks for watching over me."

"No need to thank me. I however, need to thank you for coming to rescue me."

"Not a problem...you should already know that I'd do anything for you."

"HT..."

"You know...I swear...I really thought I was dead. Last thing I remember was Kashi..."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. Kashi could probably tell you more later."

"Ok, guess I'll just have to ask him later. By the way, before I forget, you promised me last night that you're gonna tell me something."

"I...well, after what happened and how we almost lost you, I decided that you should know the truth."

"The truth about?"

"Lilinette."

"...What about her?"

"She is not my sister...at least not in the conventional sense of the word."

"What? I...don't understand. What're you trying to say?"

"She is my...other self. My other physical body and soul. She is me and I, her."

"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?"

"My family is originally from Auruboth. Long, long ago they migrated from there to Lauterania and established a kingdom."

"Ok, so far I understand...kinda."

"Those from Auruboth can split their bodies and souls throughout the multiverse, even when that being is unaware of such a possibility. Often times, the other half is either good or bad. However, sometimes a few of them are an exact duplicate of one another. My parents, during one of their journeys, found a little child who bore a striking resemblance to me. Realizing who she was, they decided to bring her back to Laurentia, adopting her and thereby officially making her my sister. In reality, she was me. We mentally shared everything, our thoughts, feelings and especially...love. We were like twins and I loved her as if she was my real sister."

"I uh...I'm not even...sure how to take that. I can barely comprehend any of it. Lilinette and you...I..."

"I knew this would probably happen. That's why I chose not to tell you before, but after that incident, you had the right to know everything."

"So...is that why I have these...intense feelings for you. I've been feeling so guilty about falling in love with you, like I'm betraying her. But in actuality, you two are the same person. This...this is just too much to take in."

"...You're in love with me?"

"What, you couldn't tell? Why didn't you just read my mind or something?"

"Because I promised you that I wouldn't."

"Uh, yeah that's right."

"HT, I must confess. Everything Lilinette felt about you, I feel as well. Like I said, we shared everything..."

"So...what should we do about this, Bethany? What can we do?"

"We take things a step at a time."

"Yeah..."

"Are you angry at me for not telling you the truth from the beginning?"

"...No, of course not. How could I be?" he answered, gently holding her soft hand as he moves his face closer to hers, "I don't think I could ever be angry at you."

"HT...I..."

Slowly, they both close their eyes and softly touch lips. Automatically, memories of his wife come flooding back like a hurricane. Her warm breath, soft tongue, the touch of her skin and the arousing scent of her body, makes him forget about all the ache, agony and discomfort caused by the wounds on his body. Likewise, the touch of his hands on her body, his lips on her neck and the way they kiss, drives her into a state of physical and emotional bliss, wishing the moment could last a lifetime.

"Bethany, tell me one thing. Why do you have blond hair and Lilinette's was light brown?"

"Well, she decided to permanently change the color of her hair so other people like our parents, are able to distinguish us apart from one another."

"Oh, I see...Uh.."

"What? What is it?"

"I really don't want to ask you, it's kinda personal."

"Just ask me."

"Well...how old are you and Lilinette exactly? There have been times when you mentioned that you've been around for centuries."

"I am 427 of your Earth years."

"Four hundred and twenty seven years old? Wow."

"Yes, my people and I are blessed with long lives, however, we are not immortal."

"...yeah I..."

"HT, there's a reason why I could not get directly involved in this conflict with Kuroouja. The only way for beings like me to get back into Auruboth, is to reunite with our other half, reform with them if you will. After Dasan Teki killed Lilinette, I assumed that I lost every hope of ever getting back there."

"What do you mean, assumed?"

"According to Dasan, he has other means to enter Auruboth."

"And you believe him?"

"Yes. Supposedly, the information was supplied by Kuroouja himself."

"So in other words..."

"People like you and I, beings without an opposite half, might have another way of entering Auruboth. Dasan was transporting me there in order to deliver me to Kuroouja before you came to rescue me."

"And Dasan...he's still alive?"

"Yes, he managed to escape."

"That bastard. I'm gonna hunt him down and strangle him with my bare hands."

"HT, although I am very angry for what he has done, I don't let my emotions cloud my judgement. We need to capture him somehow and force him to tell us how to get into Auruboth. I believe Kuroouja is planning a major offensive soon. We need to stop that from happening."

"Yeah well, once we extract that information, I'm gonna make him suffer...then kill him."

**End of Chapter 5**

*Personal Defensive Shielding**  
**


	7. Chapter 7: What Went Wrong

_Author's Notes & Disclaimer:_ _Characters appearing in this story are owned by their respective authors/creators. Likewise, any references to fictional events, locations, equipment, etc. are owned by their respective copyright owners. The characters HT, Lilinette, Bethany, and Dasan Teki (name actually given by Slop Doggy) are OCs created by me. I authorize the use of these characters to other authors of the CoA and are free to do as they wish, but please refrain from using these characters in an abusive manner. Any similarities to actual people, living or dead, or events are purely coincidental and any similarities to other media are also purely coincidental._

_Hey guys, it's me again. I know it's been awhile since the last chapter, but I finally got some free time to begin writing again. Honestly, it's because my girlfriend and I just recently broke up and I really need to get my mind off of her. I must be retarded to think that would actually work out for me. As you know, I end up incorporating part of my real life experiences into my stories. This chapter is no different. The character Lilinette was based on my late wife and the character Bethany was based on my current/ex-girlfriend. I guess everyone will peer into what I have been going through the past several days. I apologize in advance. _

_This chapter will be extremely short, but the following ones will be quite longer. I would like to thank everyone for their comments/reviews. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker. _

**CoA: Hollowfied Tweaker**

_**Chapter 7: What Went Wrong**_

_********__"It's only right that you should  
Play the way you feel it,  
But listen carefully to the sound  
Of your loneliness,  
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad  
In the stillness of remembering  
What you had, And what you lost"_  
_- Dreams, Fleetwood Mac_

Laurentia

Laying in bed, HT can not sleep properly. He senses that something is amiss with his fiancee, Bethany. He thinks to himself, "Should I ask what's wrong?" Why has she been acting so different around him. Why she always seemed to be annoyed with things that he does. He believes he knows part of the answer, but is afraid to ask. Maybe the confirmation to his suspicions is what he's more afraid of. Does he really want to know? What could the repercussions be if she answers him. He decides he needs to know the truth. He doesn't want to live in a fantasy world where he believes everything is okay, where everything is perfect.

Turning around to face her, he reaches out and touches her hand. She pulls away just slightly, but enough to confirm that there is definitely something wrong with their relationship. She seems to be sleeping, but her breathing is too fast paced. He knows she's faking it.

"Bethany...are you awake?" he asked quietly

Opening her eyes slowly, she responds, "Yes. Is something the matter?"

"Well, I've noticed that you've been getting angry at me a lot. Did I do something wrong?"

"If I have, I'm sorry. There's just a lot of things I'm going through right now." Bethany answered, slight anger in her voice, "No HT, you didn't do anything wrong, alright."

HT remains quiet for several seconds, then sighs

"So, are we okay then?" he asked cautiously, "I mean as a couple?"

She quickly sits up in bed. The look on her face and the sound of her voice clearly shows that of annoyance.

Raising her voice slightly, "What exactly do you want to hear from me?! I already told you I'm going through a lot of stress at the moment."

"I'm sorry, but it's been bothering me."

"Alright, no, we are not okay!" exclaimed Bethany, "I just don't feel that this is working out."

"Is there something I can do or change?"

"I don't know, HT. I think maybe we need some space from one another."

"..."

The room remains quiet for several minutes. HT tries to hold back his feelings, tries to hold back all the tears. He doesn't understand why she feels this way. He's always been good to her. Always been there when she needed him. Why does it seem like she hates him now? What exactly did he do wrong? Why does this revelation hurt him so deeply as if she ripped out his soul. He stares at the high, glass-like ceiling, hoping she would say something like, 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean that', but sadly, it never happens. Deciding that it's probably best to leave now, he gets up from bed and puts on his clothes.

Bethany stares at him and asks, "Where are you going?"

"I need to go, I can't be here right now." he responded, "I'm going back to the Coalition HQ."

"Then go." she replied, laying back down

No more words are said and the room returns back to its quietness once again. With a heavy heart, HT opens a rift and enters. He looks back and stares at Bethany for several seconds before closing the "doorway". She doesn't even acknowledge that he's leaving. He hates this painful feeling in his heart. He felt it when his late wife passed away and he's feeling it again, though this time it's mixed with confusion. What went wrong? With each step he takes, the pain becomes more pronounced. He doesn't want to feel the pain anymore, doesn't want to hurt anymore. He contemplates about different things. About why Bethany even stopped him from ending his own life when she ends up hurting him anyway. He finally makes a decision as he exits the rift he just created.

Arriving at HQ, HT immediately senses something is terribly awry. The hallways are unusually dark, quiet and menacing. Normally, the same hallways are brightly lit and at times, crowded with members of the Coalition. Pulling out both of his Cleric pistols, he begins searching the area for any signs of life. He finds none. He reaches his bedroom and enters. To his horror, half of the room is in rubble with a large gaping hole in the ceiling above. From the looks of it, a battle seems to have taken place not too long ago. His thinks to himself, how can that be possible. Before he left for Laurentia, he made sure that the defensive barrier was fully operational. There was no possible way that any enemy would be able to breach this compound's defenses. What went wrong? He then hears a telepathic message from Bethany

"HT, I'm sorry I hurt you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. If I didn't have so many issues, we would be a match made in Heaven. You know I love you, right?"

Though he wants to reply, he decides not to, especially not during the current situation. He needs to stay focused and alert, but apparently, he can not do so without help. Removing the Prozium injection device from the inside of his jacket, he places the tip below his jaw and pulls the trigger. Immediately, the Prozium takes effect and he begins to lose nearly every form of emotions. No longer does he feel pain, no longer does he yearn for his beloved Bethany. Suddenly, he hears a loud noise coming from one of the other rooms. Who or what is it, he asks himself. He quickly leaves the confines of his ravaged dwelling and moves quietly down the hallway to locate the noise's origin. He quickly brings both guns up to bear as a shadow swiftly moves across his path...

**End of Chapter 7  
**


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